Sanghee Oh

Purpose: This research examines how caregivers' information-seeking behaviors have been studied by analyzing research designs, theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, target populations, caregivers' information needs, information access and patterns of information use. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 69 articles published between January 2014 and December 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) and Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) databases database for analysis. Findings: This study reveals a growing scholarly interest in caregivers' information-seeking behaviors, with an increase in publications since 2020. In terms of research design, there was a heavy reliance on exploratory methods, demonstrating the need for more theory-based explanations of caregivers' information behaviors. The findings also presented both a narrow scope and internal diversity within caregiver populations, as well as information needs reflecting a holistic and emotionally charged experience. Caregivers' ability to access and use health information was shaped by a combination of physical, intellectual and social factors. Research limitations/implications: This review contributes to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of information behavior in high-stakes caregiving contexts and offers a foundation for future research aiming to inform the development of inclusive, culturally sensitive, and user-centered information services and interventions. The study is limited to articles indexed in two databases, focusing on peer-reviewed research only. Originality/value: The focus on caregivers' health information behaviors in this systematic literature review study provides a novel insight for health information behavior researchers emphasizing the trends and needs for investigating caregivers.

Purpose: This study investigates how adult learners participating in lifelong learning (LLL) programs engage in information seeking, use and sharing as part of their everyday lives, and examines how these practices are shaped by motivations and contextual factors. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on Savolainen’s (2008) everyday information practices (EIP) framework and Houle’s (1961) typology of participation motivation, this qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with 24 adult learners enrolled in public library–based LLL programs in South Korea. Interview data were thematically analyzed to identify recurring patterns in information practices. Findings: Adult learners’ information practices were embedded in everyday routines and institutional environments. Participants relied primarily on institutionally provided sources, such as library or district websites, official platforms, printed notices and interpersonal networks. Information engagement involved multiple practices beyond deliberate searching, including monitoring, being told, and encountering information through routine activities and social interactions. Although participants reported diverse and overlapping motivations for participation, these orientations did not yield clearly differentiated information practices. Instead, contextual factors – such as time availability, registration systems, place, affordability and information system design – played a more decisive role in shaping information practices. Originality/value: By applying the EIP framework to lifelong learning, this study conceptualizes LLL information practices as situated, routine-based and socially embedded, highlighting the importance of improving information accessibility in everyday learning environments.

Data Availability Statements (DAS) have become a standard mechanism for promoting transparency and reproducibility in open‐access mega journals, yet questions remain about how effectively they support meaningful data sharing in practice and how these practices vary across national research contexts. This study examines data‐sharing practices in the medical and health sciences through a comparative analysis of global publications and Korea‐affiliated articles in three mega journals indexed in PubMed Central: PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports and BMJ Open (2020–2024). DAS from 176,145 articles were collected from PubMed Central using an automated pipeline with manual validation and classified into a seven‐category typology reflecting levels of data accessibility and reuse. Results indicate that although DAS inclusion increased over time, repository‐based data sharing remains limited, while ‘data available upon request’ continues to be prevalent. Clear differences are observed across journals: PLOS ONE shows greater use of repository‐based and in‐article sharing, whereas Scientific Reports and BMJ Open rely more heavily on ‘data available upon request’. Korea‐affiliated articles largely follow global trends, with slightly greater reliance on national public data repositories. Repository use is concentrated among a small number of international multidisciplinary platforms and selected national biomedical databases. The findings reveal a persistent gap between formal DAS compliance and effective data accessibility, indicating the need for clearer, more actionable data‐sharing guidance.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship among information awareness, access and socioeconomic deprivation in the context of local health information. Drawing on theories of information poverty and the digital divide, this study examined how socioeconomic deprivation influences individuals’ ability to become aware of and access local health information.Design/methodology/approach: Using survey data from three jurisdictions in South Korea’s Seoul Metropolitan Area, this study examined how socioeconomic factors influence information awareness and access at both the macro level (jurisdiction) and the micro level (individual).Findings: The findings revealed significant differences in information awareness and access across jurisdictions with varying levels of socioeconomic deprivation. Participants from areas with lower socioeconomic deprivation reported greater confidence in their ability to access and evaluate health information. At an individual level, socioeconomic deprivation negatively affected information awareness and access. Information awareness was shown to mediate the effects of socioeconomic deprivation on information access, although the degree of mediation varied across different dimensions of information access, such as physical, intellectual and social access.Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature focused on the digital divide, information poverty and local information landscapes by studying information awareness as a mediator in shaping information access. The findings of this study can guide health information service providers and system designers in developing customized strategies that cater to the unique needs of various communities and socioeconomic groups.

Purpose: Vaccine hesitancy has become a critical public health challenge, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, amplified by social media facilitating the spread of unverified claims. This study compares COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 vaccine questions posed on a leading USA health Q&A community, examining topical differences, user engagement and themes underlying vaccine hesitancy.Design/methodology/approach: Questions from Medical Sciences Stack Exchange were collected and pre-processed to identify vaccine-related queries. The analysis included 324 COVID-19 vaccine questions and 187 non-COVID-19 vaccine questions for topical differences. Vaccine hesitancy was examined in 75 COVID-19 and 44 non-COVID-19 vaccine questions. User engagement metrics were compared between the two categories.Findings: The study revealed distinct thematic concerns in COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 vaccine questions, alongside substantial differences in user engagement metrics. Common strategies to address vaccine hesitancy may not be equally effective during public health crises. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy primarily stemmed from concerns about rapid development, new biotechnologies and the benefits of post-infection vaccination. Non-COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy focused more on the safety of childhood immunization, manufacturing processes, allergy risks and vaccine-related disease myths. The high popularity but low answer acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccine questions indicated a substantial unmet information need in addressing hesitancies.Originality/value: This study compares user concerns regarding established vaccines and those developed during a health crisis, focusing on factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy. It evaluates the extent to which these concerns are addressed on a health Q&A platform, offering insights into information needs and gaps in public understanding of vaccines during routine and emergency health scenarios.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the impact of perceived risks of COVID-19 and users’ intention to continually use social media for COVID-19 information, thereby revealing social media users’ perceptions and behaviors regarding the pandemic.Design/methodology/approach: The Health Belief Model was used to develop the research model. Data were collected from social media users in Korea using an online survey.Findings: The findings showed that social media users’ intention to continually use social media for COVID-19 information explained 46.5% of the variance in their perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers. The degree of impact and relationships varied across the constructs. Two age groups were examined, and it transpired that perceived risks and perceived use were more highly recognized by young users than old users.Research limitations/implications: This study focused on Korean social media users, providing valuable insights but limiting its generalizability. The proposed research model and methodology can include participants from various countries or cultures to enhance global relevance and diversified perspectives on how perceived risks impact social media use for health information.Practical implications: This study’s findings can be used to provide tailored health information services to those with different levels of perceived risks, social media use, and different age groups.Originality/value: This study adopted the Health Belief Model to understand users’ perceptions of COVID-19 information on social media and examined users’ intentions to continue using social media as a channel for COVID-19 information.

Background: Considering social distancing requirements and isolation during the COVID‐19 pandemic and the widespread health mis/disinformation on social media, filling the pandemic‐related information gap is critical.Objectives: This study explored COVID‐19‐related question topics, topic correlation, evolving trends, and community interactions by leveraging data from a health question‐answering (Q&A) community (public and health professionals) over a 2‐year period.Methods: A total of 828 questions were collected and manually reviewed from a health Q&A and classified into 2492 codes. Question topic correlations, trends, and community interactions were generated using different statistical techniques.Results: Thirty‐seven topics were identified, and strong topic correlations were observed between the cognitive layer and other layers. These topics changed as the pandemic developed. Community interaction analyses revealed topics that were popular but received comparatively fewer responses.Discussion: The findings could illuminate the dynamic changes in people's interests and concerns related to COVID‐19 and their experiences of exchanging information in social Q&A communities.Conclusion: This study examined the practical significance of understanding topics of interest during a pandemic. The findings can inform the design of social health Q&A platforms that could reduce the risks of misinformation and disinformation.

Purpose: This study investigated information needs on COVID-19 by identifying topics discussed on social questions and answers (Q&A) about daily routines, problems, and health issues for survival. A layered model of contexts for everyday life information seeking (ELIS) was adapted for interpreting topics to better understand the contexts in which users could relate information needs.Design/methodology/approach: Questions and answers posted on Naver Knowledge-iN were collected and analyzed during the first nine months following the outbreak. Time distribution, topic modeling, and association rule mining were applied to examine the topics on COVID-19 and their temporal variation.Findings: Numerous topics related to the cognitive context (symptoms and masks) and situational contexts (international affairs, financial support, study, and work) were discovered. Topics related to social context were discussed moderately, but the number of questions on this topic increased with time. Strong associations were observed between terms related to symptoms, indicating their importance as a COVID-19 topic in health.Originality/value: This study investigated topics of information needs using social Q&A data in which not only information inquiry but also information sharing coexist. The findings can help bridge the theory of ELIS to topic modeling in practice. The insights gained from this study can be used by information service providers for developing guidance and programs about how to survive during a pandemic.Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0547.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the nature and evolution of online communities in the early stages of their life cycles. The authors analyze the topics of discussions in an online community to identify issues related to community development. The authors also compare the topics of exemplary questions that founding members believed to be asked with the real questions based on members' information needs.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use Medical Sciences Stack Exchange, a health Q&A community of Stack Exchange, which requires four stages of development: definition, commitment, private beta and public beta. The authors collect postings of discussions and health questions in the first three stages, perform a content analysis of the postings and analyze the topics of discussions and health questions.Findings: The authors find that the topics of discussions evolved dynamically with the issues of community governance, role as a medical/health community, members and roles, content management, quality control and community design. The authors also find that the real questions included more specific and diverse issues than the exemplary questions that founding members expected.Originality/value: Theoretically, this study tests the community life cycle model in an online community that has explicit phase markers. The findings could shed light on community development and help prioritize issues to solve and decisions to make in its early stages. Additionally, this study focuses on the challenges and concerns in online health community building and solutions generated by collective efforts that could influence health communications in online communities.

This study investigates motivations for self‐archiving research items on academic social networking sites (ASNSs). A model of these motivations was developed based on two existing motivation models: motivation for self‐archiving in academia and motivations for information sharing in social media. The proposed model is composed of 18 factors drawn from personal, social, professional, and external contexts, including enjoyment, personal/professional gain, reputation, learning, self‐efficacy, altruism, reciprocity, trust, community interest, social engagement, publicity, accessibility, self‐archiving culture, influence of external actors, credibility, system stability, copyright concerns, additional time, and effort. Two hundred and twenty‐six ResearchGate users participated in the survey. Accessibility was the most highly rated factor, followed by altruism, reciprocity, trust, self‐efficacy, reputation, publicity, and others. Personal, social, and professional factors were also highly rated, while external factors were rated relatively low. Motivations were correlated with one another, demonstrating that RG motivations for self‐archiving could increase or decrease based on several factors in combination with motivations from the personal, social, professional, and external contexts. We believe the findings from this study can increase our understanding of users' motivations in sharing their research and provide useful implications for the development and improvement of ASNS services, thereby attracting more active users.