Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to determine factors that influence people living with HIV (PLHIV) to
engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional
hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221
PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They assessed the
validity and reliability of the measurement model by using exploratory factor analysis and also used
hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using Statistical Package for Social
Science.
Findings – The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3 per cent) to search online
HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage
intentions of internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage
intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects
of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects
of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of internet. The findings
imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the
older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online
content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making
decisions to use internet.
Practical implications – Health-care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on
health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers
need to design user-friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health
information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information
resources on their websites; and health-care providers need to improve technological
infrastructure. Originality/value – This is a comprehensive study that provides empirical findings to better understand
the HIV information seeking behaviour from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence
PLHIV to seek online information in Tanzania.
