When Is Ignorance Bliss? Toward a Better Understanding of Health Information Nonseeking and Avoidance

Health-information seeking (HIS) has been researched widely, but comparatively less attention has been given to people who have not sought information on a health issue. When such individuals have been investigated, there has been a tendency to treat information nonseekers and information avoiders as a unitary group defined by the characteristic of not being in active pursuit of health information. I challenge this assumption by differentiating among health-information seeking (HIS), health-information nonseeking (HIN) and health-information avoidance (HIA). All three of these behaviors are considered individual responses to a health-related cue. HIS is a response in which information is sought to decrease uncertainty and/or satisfy curiosities. HIN denotes a response characterized by passivity, disinterest, or unawareness with regard to health information. HIA is an effort to avoid exposure to information that may be potentially threatening or could arouse unpleasant feelings. HIN and HIA should not be equated.;A model, adapted from Witte's (1992) Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and Rimal and Real's (2003) Risk Perception Attitude (RPA) framework, was advanced to predict individuals' decision to not seek versus avoid health information based on their levels of risk and efficacy. The results are based on an online survey measuring 696 participants' anticipated information-seeking behavior. The combination of moderate/high risk and high efficacy was a significant indicator of health-information seeking. However, health information-nonseeking was not significantly predicted by combinations of low risk and high efficacy, low risk and low efficacy, or no risk as expected by the model. Additionally, the combination of moderate/high risk and low efficacy was not a significant indicator of health information-avoidance as predicted. Future research should remain open to the distinction between health-information nonseeking and health-information avoidance. These behaviors may be better understood by measuring actual behavior in regards to personally relevant topics.