Geographical disparities in health information competence and behaviors in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Access to health information that affects one’s health competence and behavior is vulnerable in some regions, which may lead to a low level of health status. Even though South Korean has been developed in health care system, there is still a long way to reduce social and geographical disparities in one nation. This study attempted to discover whether geographical disparities in health information competence and health behaviors still exist. Analyses of covariance were conducted to examine whether health information competence and behaviors were differed by region. The results showed that geographic location significantly affects individual health information competence such as health literacy, health information self-efficacy, and online health information self-efficacy. The present study also revealed that geographic location significantly affects individual health information behaviors. In addition to geographical factors, education and age appear to be prominent indicators of acquiring health information.