Trust or do not trust: evaluation strategies used by online health information consumers in South East Asia

Introduction. Health information searching is a popular activity conducted on the Internet. However, the focus of past research studies has been on health consumers from the western world. Thus, there is a gap of information pertaining to online health information searching behaviour from the South East Asian region. In this study, trust evaluation strategies used by South East Asian health consumers are described. Method. A grounded theory approach was used. A total of eighty participants were interviewed. Analysis. Interviews were analysed using qualitative analysis methods. Open coding and thematic analysis methods were employed. Results. Results indicate most participants evaluate information for trustworthiness. The most popular technique used is evaluating the quality of the source. In addition, South East Asian health consumers place high trust value on information based on personal experiences. Conclusions. This research study extends current understanding of trustworthiness evaluations and points to the need for education and training mechanisms to be in place.