Interplay of negative emotion and health self-efficacy on the use of health information and its outcomes

During the course of illness, people diagnosed with cancer need information to cope with cancer. Despite the crucial role of information, little is known about why some people with cancer choose to seek further information about their illness and why others do not. This study investigates the interplay of two psychological factors, negative emotion and health self-efficacy, on patients' health information use. Using the data collected from 122 women diagnosed with breast cancer, the authors found that negative emotions and health self-efficacy jointly affect the use of health information. Among patients with high health self-efficacy, negative emotions were positively related to the amount of information sought, whereas among those with low health self-efficacy, negative emotions were negatively related to the amount of information sought. The results also show that there are significant increases in patients' health self-efficacy after the use of health information for 2 months.