Design and Evaluation of the Internal Structure of Beliefs Affecting the Online Health Information Seeking Behavior Questionnaire among University Students

Background: Due to the fact that in the Iranian health information seeking literature, a questionnaire to examine the factors affecting the online health information seeking behavior of students and their health beliefs, was not found, the present study designed a questionnaire for this purpose, and approved its validity and reliability using exploratory and confirmatory factors analysis. Materials and Methods: The statistical population of the present study consisted of all students studying in all educational levels in public and private universities of Ahvaz during year 2019, the total number of which was 46054 people. According to Cochran's formula, 600 students were selected for the research sample. The instrument used in the present study was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was a combination of 36-item questionnaire base on Mo, Sheen and Cohen and Deng, Liu and Hinz research questionnaires. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed by three methods: the use of scientific articles, factor analysis and its reliability calculated by use of Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and LISREL software. Results: By performing explanatory factor analysis, the variables affecting online search for health information were categorized and renamed into ten factors: Trust in quality and efficiency, Useful intention, Self-efficacy, Cognitive values, Perceived severity, Perceived anxiety, Perceived sensitivity, Perceived barriers, Individual health beliefs, and Social values. Then these factors were investigated using confirmatory factor analysis. Conclusion: Examination of the standardized coefficients in the obtained structural model showed that almost all factor loads have the desired value.