University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Toward an understanding of university students’ information behavior and challenges when experiencing mental health symptoms

Oh, Chi Young; Kornfield, Rachel; Lattie, Emily; Mohr, David; Reddy, Madhu

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/123156

Description

Title
Toward an understanding of university students’ information behavior and challenges when experiencing mental health symptoms
Author(s)
  • Oh, Chi Young
  • Kornfield, Rachel
  • Lattie, Emily
  • Mohr, David
  • Reddy, Madhu
Issue Date
2023-09
Keyword(s)
  • Information Behavior
  • Information Needs
  • Information Seeking
  • Information Use
  • Mental Health
Abstract
This poster reports the findings from an analysis of an online survey of 224 university students (undergraduate or graduate) who experienced common mental health symptoms such as stress, anxiety, or depression. The survey questions addressed respondents’ basic demographics and mental health conditions (using the PHQ-4 questionnaire) and explored their information needs, help-seeking behavior, information-seeking behavior, and information-seeking satisfaction when experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms. While “Information on the Internet” was the most commonly used source of information for their mental health-related information seeking, “Information on the Internet” was not the most satisfactory source of information in terms of helping them meet their information needs. Further analysis of the relationships between respondents’ mental health conditions, demographics, and mental health-related information behavior (MHIB) indicates what factors shape university students’ MHIB and what challenges they may face in their MHIB. Based on the findings and analyses, we aim to provide insights for researchers and practitioners into designing technology, programs, and services to help with university students’ mental health-related information seeking and well-being.
Series/Report Name or Number
Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference, 2023
Type of Resource
text
Language
eng
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/123156
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2023.1379
Copyright and License Information
  • Copyright 2023 Chi Young Oh, Rachel Kornfield, Emily Lattie, David Mohr, Madhu Reddy
  • This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Owning Collections

Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference: ALISE 2023 PRIMARY
Bridge the Gap: Teaching, Learning, Practice, and Competencies