More Help from Friends and Family? Trends in Determinants of Surrogate Health Information-Seeking.

Friends and family members often choose to seek health information for a loved one, rather than all information-seeking being carried out by the patient for themselves. Despite the popularity of this proxy for health information-seeking behavior (PHISB), there is a lack of more current data on PHISB, as well as on changes in PHISB. We analyzed health information-seeking based on data from the two available waves of the HINTS Germany study (2018/19: N = 2.147;2020: N = 1.865). HINTS Germany is a data set mapping health information behaviors in the German population, closely linked to the well-established U.S. HINTS. The results show an increase in health information-seeking of 6.2% (p < .001), between the first wave (36%; n = 772) and the second wave (42%; n = 778). A bivariate analysis followed by a hierarchical logit model yielded similar significant determinants for PHISB. Gender, being in a stable relationship, and different information sources were all found to be significant for health information-seeking. The results show the need for tailored population information for proxies, to improve their respective communication with patients.