Relationship between Patients’ Access to Health Information and Coping with Chronic Diseases

Abstract

The research examined the association between patients’ demographics, access to health information on coping and self-efficacy in managing chronic illness. This is a correlation study. The population for this study is seven hundred and eighty-four patients with chronic diseases in two Federal Government Teaching Hospitals in South-East, Nigeria. A Questionnaire and a Coping with Chronic Diseases Self-Efficacy Scale were instruments for data collection. Correlation analysis shows that access to coping information was positively and significantly correlated with self-efficacy in managing chronic diseases. Multiple Regression suggests that disease type was the only patient characteristics significantly associated with self-efficacy when patients have access to coping information. The study conclude that the significant associations indicate that health information can enable patients develop self-efficacy for coping with chronic diseases. Hospital administrators and all stakeholders involved in health care should create an enabling environment for information sharing and flow to patients with chronic diseases. Librarians should play some roles in creating access to health information for patients with chronic diseases through developing and promoting consumer health information resources.

Keywords: Health information, Coping; Self-efficacy, Chronic diseases; Self- management; Consumer health information service