PRISM: A Planned Risk Information Seeking Model

Abstract

Recent attention on health-related information seeking has focused primarily on information seeking within specific health and health risk contexts. This study attempts to shift some of that focus to individual-level variables that may impact health risk information seeking across contexts. To locate these variables, the researcher posits an integrated model, the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM). The model, which treats risk information seeking as a deliberate (planned) behavior, maps variables found in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991 Ajzen, I. 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50: 179–211. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP; Griffin, Dunwoody, & Neuwirth, 1999 Griffin, R., Dunwoody, S. and Neuwirth, K. 1999. Proposed model of the relationship of risk information seeking and processing to the development of preventive behaviors. Environmental Research, 80: 230–245. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and posits linkages among those variables. This effort is further informed by Kahlor's (2007 Kahlor, L. 2007. An augmented risk information seeking model: The case of global warming. Media Psychology, 10: 414–435. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Augmented RISP, the Theory of Motivated Information Management (Afifi & Weiner, 2004 Afifi, W. and Weiner, J. 2004. Toward a theory of motivated information management. Communication Theory, 14: 167–190. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (Johnson & Meischke, 1993 Johnson, J. D. and Meischke, H. 1993. A comprehensive model of cancer-related information seeking applied to magazines. Human Communication Research, 19: 343–367. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the Health Information Acquisition Model (Freimuth, Stein, & Kean, 1989 Freimuth, V. S., Stein, J. A. and Kean, T. J. 1989. Searching for health information: The Cancer Information Service model, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), and the Extended Parallel Processing Model (Witte, 1998 Witte, K. (1998). Theory based interventions and evaluations of outreach efforts. Seattle, WA: National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Pacific Northwest Region (commissioned publication) http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/pnr/eval/witte.html [Google Scholar]). The resulting integrated model accounted for 59% of the variance in health risk information-seeking intent and performed better than the TPB or the RISP alone.