Deconstructing proxy health information-seeking behavior: A systematic review

Seeking health-related information on behalf of or because of others is a common activity in everyday life and a topic of constant interest across multiple disciplines. The research aims to characterize recent research progress and provide a comprehensive framework of proxy health information-seeking behavior (PHISB). A total of 47 studies published after 2003 were selected, followed by structural encoding. The main contributions include 1) a summary of the key characteristics of individuals who often access health information through proxy seekers; 2) types of health information surrogates sought and sources employed; 3) a classification scheme of factors influencing PHISB; 4) a synthesis of how health information used and its subsequent outcomes; 5) a theoretical framework for proxy health information-seeking. Results point to an intellectual benchmark for future exploring related issues. The findings can shed light on public health intervention and management, especially through guiding search strategies to help people obtain relevant, helpful, and credible health information.