Table 2 Interview guide
From: eHealth usage among Chinese college students: qualitative findings
Question | Elaboration questions | Theory, study or construct |
|---|---|---|
Did you search the Internet for health-related questions? | -How often? | Description of use |
-Do you remember the last time you searched for a health issue? | Perceived susceptibility | |
-What kind of information are you usually searching for, medicine, nutrition, fitness or daily care? | ||
Could you describe a specific medical information that you had ever searched for? | -Why did you want to search it? | Motive |
-How did you search it? (Which website/searching engine did you use? What keyword did you use? How to filter the information? How to find the answer? Could you understand it? Is the explanation clear on the Internet?) | Experience | |
-Whether there is any communication with a third party (online doctor, online customer service) in the process? How is it? (understandable or not? did your problem be solved?) | Perceived behavior control | |
-In this specific case, do you think the health information on the Internet can help you? Did your problem be solved at the end? | Ease of use | |
Outcome expectation | ||
Could you describe a specific daily-care information that you had ever searched for? | Similar to those of medical information | Similar to those of medical information |
How do you evaluate the health information online? | -How do you determine if the information on the Internet is useful to you? | Perceived usefulness |
-How do you verify which information on the Internet is trustworthy? | Self-efficacy | |
How do you feel about online health information? | -How does it differ from offline health information? | Perceived benefit |
-Do you trust online health information? Why? | Perceived barriers | |
-Under what circumstances would you search the Internet for health information | Self-efficacy | |
Did you have conversation of health issues online with someone you know (family/friends)? | -Did you ask them for help or suggestion on health issue? | Subjective norms |
-Did they ask you for help or suggestion on health issue? | Social support | |
-If someone you know has a health problem and you happen to know how to solve it, would you volunteer the information? | ||
-Did you take the initiative to share health information with your friends and family? | ||
(why, how, perception & view) | ||
Did you have conversation of health issues online with other netizens (strangers)? | -Did you post online to seek help or suggestions on health issue? (which channel would you prefer, WeChat moments, Weibo, professional forums or popular forums?) | Self-efficacy |
-Did you reply to any help-seeking post online? | Visibility | |
-Did you post online to share health related experiences, knowledge or opinions? | Social support | |
Did you take use of e-consulting services? | -What is it? How is it going? | Perceived severity |
-How do you determine if it is trustworthy? | Perceived usefulness | |
-Did it fulfill your need? Why or why not? | Credibility | |
-Do you find it an invasion of privacy? | ||
Did you follow any health-related official account, key opinion leader or cyber celebrity on line? | -Who? From when? For how long? | Uses and gratification |
-Did you actively browse the information posted by them? | Intention | |
-Did it impact your health? | ||
Do you use health apps? | -what is it about? (medical/daily-care/fitness/nutrition) | Self-observation |
-which one is most frequently used? | Self-regulation | |
-which one would you like to talk about today? | ||
Why do you use this health app? | -How did you find it? (peer recommendation or self-search) | Motives |
-Why you choose it? (compare with similar other ones) | Cues to action | |
-What is the original goal? Which function did you make use of? Which function you do not pay attention to? Why and why not? | Social influence | |
- What is the using perception? Easy-handling? User-friendly? Reliable or not? | Goal setting | |
- How often did you use it? For how long? Would you continuously use it? Why or why not? (if uninstalled, why?) | Uses and gratification; | |
Perceived ease of use | ||
Perceived usefulness | ||
Would you use health app to interact with others (social impact)? | -Are your offline friends using this app? Do you think their usage will affect yours? What do you think of this kind of social function? Did it motive your usage? Did you pay attention to your friends’ post on the app? | Social support |
-Did the APP hold online activities? If so, do you think it is attractive? Did you take part in it? | Social influence | |
- Did you make new friends by using health apps? | Visibility | |
- Did you post on the APP? Did you forward your post to other social platforms (such as WeChat)? Did you share comments, experiences or photos on the APP? | ||
-Do you find it an invasion of privacy? | ||
Do you use intelligent health devices? Why do you use it? Would you use it to interact with others? | Similar to those of health apps | Similar to those of health apps |
Do you use the health function in instant messaging (specially WeRun)? | -Did you pay attention to the step-ranking and other users’ “thumb up”? | Uses and gratification |
-What do you think of this kind of function? Does it impact your health behavior? | Subjective norms | |
-Did you go out of your way to do health behavior for your place on the ranking list? | Perceived social support | |
-Did you use this function for health or for social interactions? | ||
In order to better make use of the online health information, what kind of ability and knowledge should be obtained? | -For website searching | Health literacy |
-For online inter-person communication | Self-efficacy | |
-For public forums posting and reply | Competence feedback | |
-For apps and intelligent health devices usage | ||
What do you think of the different eHealth tools? (Web, social media, apps and intelligent devices) | -The most frequently used one? The most fruitful one? | Perceived usefulness |
-What kind of role they are playing in people’s daily health maintaining? | Uses and gratification | |
How much you care about your health? | -Would you actively access health information in daily life? | Perceived susceptibility |
-If a friend of yours has been diagnosed with a serious illness, how will it affect you? | Perceived Severity |