Leslie Abbott

17 February 2014

IS 246, Winter 2014

Sairanen, A. & Savolainen R, (2010). Avoiding Health information in the context of uncertainty management. Information Research 15(4). Retrieved from http://www.informationr.net/ir/15-
4/paper443.html

Abstract

Sairanen and Savolainen open their paper with a discussion about the assumption of “needy” information seekers, and the question of information avoidance. The authors point out that questions of information avoidance are typically excluded from information science inquiries, and present a study that investigates this issue within the context of health issues and “uncertainty management.” A literature review describing research approaches to uncertainty management is included, and features Donald Case's work quite heavily. The review serves to provide information about how the notion of information avoidance (especially within health-related contexts) has long been discussed within the fields of psychology and communication studies.

Interestingly, the authors point out that issues of information avoidance are much more complex than previously imagined, and can be demonstrative of both desirable and undesirable uncertainty. Various reasons and strategies for avoiding health-related information are included, which demonstrate that people may “employ both information seeking and buffering strategies together.”

An empirical study was conducted, which attempted to address such research questions as how/why people avoid health-related information, and the kinds of strategies they employ to avoid such information. The study drew data from interviews with nine students at a Finnish university, and conclusions indicated that information seeking and information avoidance are not mutually exclusive. While health information was often avoided to evade feelings of fear, depression, and anxiety, the participants related a variety of reasons for avoiding such potentially life-saving information.