Health Information Seeking among Young Adults in Sweden

A survey of health information seeking behaviour among young adults, 18-29 years old, reports that as well as searching for information for their own use, searching for information to help family and friends is also practised?. Overall, the top 5 categories of information searched are 'Personal Health', 'Symptoms', 'Healthy Diet', 'Mental Health' and 'Treatment'. For the Top 5 Information searches for Self, 'Disease Prevention' is in 5th place and displaces 'Mental Health'. Respondents mostly report a high regard for the information they retrieve in their searches. The use of support groups for themselves is reported, as well an altruistic motivation to support others. While the motivation for many searches is to avoid attending a health professional, approximately one-third search after their visit. Of the respondents who are Swedish residents, 42% are unaware of the availability of their Journalen, online health record in Sweden, and of those 56.7% who know of it, 18% have never accessed it.