Online journal of public health informatics
A Health Belief Model Approach to Determining Psychological Predictors of Behavioral Intention to Seek Health Information on Social Media: Quantitative Descriptive Study
By Manene S and Cilliers L.
Abstract
Background
The increasing use of social media as a source of health information has highlighted the need to understand the psychological factors influencing individuals' intentions to seek health-related information online, particularly within the South African context.
Objective
This study aimed to determine the psychological predictors of behavioral intention (BI) to seek health information on social media within a developing South African context.
Methods
Adopting a positivist quantitative approach, data were collected from 214 social media users aged 18 to 35 years using a nonprobability convenience sample and analyzed through structural equation modeling using IBM SPSS and SmartPLS.