Medical and Health Information Seeking among Singapore Youths: An Exploratory Study

By Intan Azura Mokhtar, Ji-En Goh, Kerrie Jiayi Li & Celine Xue-Li Tham, pp. 49-76

Abstract:

This study aimed to find out what the attitudes of young people (aged 18 to 24) in Singapore towards medical or health information seeking were. This study also compared the responses between male and female youths.

The findings of this study seemed to suggest that youths might not actually be novices in the autonomous search of health information and instead, might be increasingly competent in this area. This could be one of the reasons why many see no need to consult doctors for minor ailments. In addition, it was observed that male youths were less likely to consult doctors for both minor and prolonged illnesses compared to female youths and that male youths were more likely to watch what they eat and less likely to read health magazines compared to female youths. Also, it was found that youths generally preferred to turn to their parents for medical or health information.

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT