Abstract

Today, with countless health information being accessible through online and offline, the public has been able to explore health-related information in various ways. The current study focuses on the information-seeking behavior of the mothers who actively explore information related to the health of their healthy infants (aged between 0 and 3 years). The researcher had conducted in-depth interviews of 24 American, Korean, and Korean immigrant mothers living in the United States, and then analyzed the sequential order of the information sources that they have used to search for the health-related information about their children. The current research highlights that the mothers' information-seeking pathways and searched topics tended to differ in accordance with their child(ren)'s health conditions (e.g., ill vs. healthy). For instance, regarding the information sources used, more diverse health information sources (e.g., public libraries, government health agencies, daycare teachers) were used when their child(ren) was not ill. In addition, when a child was ill, mothers were likely to focus on information about specific diseases or symptoms first, whereas when the child was healthy, they used to explore information on various health topics such as growth and development, nutrition and diets, parenting, and so on. Based on the results, implications for the information professionals are discussed when designing and providing health-related information services to mothers of healthy infants and toddlers.