Abstract:

［Purpose/Significance］The generation and escalation of health anxiety is a common phenomenon during users’ health information seeking.The exploration of influencing factors and relevant contexts of health anxiety generation and escalation during users’ information seeking could help improve their experience and relieve their negative emotion.［Design/Methodology］Based upon the ABC model in cognitive behavioral therapy, this study explored the features in users’ practices of health information seeking by using the thematic analysis, and then conducted a qualitative comparison to find the configurations of anxiety escalation. ［Findings/Conclusion］It has been found that the information seeking practices which mention anxiety escalation differ in seeking contexts, seeking strategies and so on. Seekers’ negative cognition is a key factor of health anxiety escalation, which contributes to the escalation together with the self-diagnosed scene, contradictory results and terms of severity. ［Originality/Value］This study explores health anxiety escalation from the perspective of information seeking behavior, which could provide some insights for future study of emotional factors in human information behavior.

Key words: Health information seeking, Health anxiety, Cyberchondria, Negative emotion, Qualitative comparative analysis