A literature review of the information needs and behaviours of Black adults and the predominance of studies on health information
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC65262Keywords:
information behavior, information needs, health information, Black adultsAbstract
Introduction. This is a review of the existing literature on the information needs and seeking behaviours of Black adults as part of a larger dissertation study that discusses the need for information behaviour research of Black adults within the context of traditional knowledge centres.
Results. The results are in progress as this review represents a portion of the overarching information behaviour dissertation study.
Conclusion. While the literature reflects an abundance of information behaviour studies within the health information field, it also reveals gaps in the literature that show an absence of studies that examine other types of information needs of Black adults.
References
Beal, C. C. (2015). Stroke education needs of African American women. Public Health Nursing, 32(1), 24-33. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12158
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity, politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Gollop, C. J. (1997, April). Health information-seeking behavior and older African American women. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 85(2), 141-146.
Jones, L. M., Veinot, T. C., & Pressler, S. J. (2018a). Cell phone information seeking explains blood pressure in African American women. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 40(5), 617-632. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945916689069
Jones, L. M., Veinot, T. C., Pressler, S. J., Coleman-Burns, P., & McCall, A. (2018b). Exploring predictors of information use to self-manage blood pressure in midwestern African American women with hypertension. Journal of Immigrant Minority of Health, 20(3), 569-576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0573-9
Kvasny, L., & Payton, F. C. (2018). Managing hypervisibility in the HIV prevention information-seeking practices of Black female college students. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 69(6), 798-806. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24001
Morey, O. T. (2007). Health information ties: Preliminary findings on the health information seeking behaviour of an African-American community. Information Research, 12(2). https://informationr.net/ir/12-2/paper297.html
Muñoz-Antonia, T., Ung, D., Montiel-Ishino, F.A., Nelson, A., Canales, J., & Quinn, G.P. (2015). African Americans’ and Hispanics’ information needs about cancer care. Journal of Cancer Education, 30(2) 327-332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0721-z
Payton, F.C., Kvasny, L., & Kiwanuka-Tondo, J. (2014). Online HIV prevention information: How black female college students are seeking and perceiving. Internet Research, 24(4), 520-543. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-09-2013-0193
RICHES Resources. (2014, November 27). Cultural institutions. https://resources.riches-project.eu/glossary/cultural-institutions
Rose, I. D., Friedman, D. B., Spencer, S. M., Annang, L., & Lindley, L. L. (2016). Health information-seeking practices of African American young men who have sex with men: A qualitative study. Youth & Society, 48(3), 344-365. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X13491769
Sanders Thompson, V. L., Talley, M., Caito, N., & Kreuter, M. (2009). African American men’s perceptions of factors influencing health-information seeking. American Journal of Men’s Health, 3(1), 6-15.
Spink, A. & Cole, C. (2001). Information and poverty: Information-seeking channels used by African American low-income households. Library & Information Science Research, 23(1), 45-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0740-8188(00)00067-0
Spink, A., Jaeckel, M., & Sidberry, G. (1997). Information seeking and information needs of low income Black households: Wynnewood healthy neighborhood project. Proceedings of the ASIS Annual Meeting, 34, 271-279. Washington, DC: American Society for Information Science.
Warren, J.R., Hecht, M.L., Jung, E., Kvasny, L., & Henderson, M.G. (2010a). African American ethnic and class-based identities on the World Wide Web: Moderating the effects of self-perceived information seeking/finding and web self-efficacy. Communication Research, 37(5), 674-702. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650210374005
Warren, J. R., Kvasny, L., Hecht, M. L., Burgess, D., Ahluwalia, J. S., & Okuyemi, K. (2010b, Spring). Barriers, control and identity in health information seeking among African American women. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 3(3), 68-90. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol3/iss3/5
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jamillah R. Gabriel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
