Factors motivating, demotivating, or impeding information seeking and use by people with type 2 diabetes: A call to work toward preventing, identifying, and addressing incognizance

Type 2 diabetes has grown increasingly prevalent over recent decades, now affecting nearly 400 million people worldwide; however, nearly half of these individuals have no idea they have it. Consumer health information behavior (CHIB), which encompasses people's health‐related information needs as well as the ways in which they interact (or do not interact) with health‐related information, plays an important role in people's ability to prevent, cope with, and successfully manage a serious chronic disease across time. In this mixed‐method longitudinal study, the CHIB of 34 people with type 2 diabetes is explored with the goal of identifying the factors that motivate, demotivate, or impede their diabetes‐related information seeking and use. The findings reveal that while these processes can be motivated by many different factors and can lead to important benefits, there are significant barriers (such as “incognizance,” defined herein as having an information need that one is not aware of) that may demotivate or impede their information seeking and use. The implications of these findings are discussed, focusing on how we might work toward preventing, identifying, and addressing incognizance among this population, ensuring they have the information they need when it can be of the most use to them.