HEALTHCARE AND HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

It is well documented that healthcare and health information seeking behavior of the community have been highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research aims to describe the healthcare and health information seeking behavior among people in the city of Bandung, the city of Surabaya, and the province of East Java. A self administered survey was conducted from a sample of 282 with a total of 123 (43,62%) respondents have tested positive for COVID-19. This study showed that half of the respondents (50%) have been practicing self-medication, followed by going to the physicians (44,33%) and alternative medicine practitioners (0,35%) whenever they perceive themselves to have a health problem during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 5,32% of the respondents have decided to not seeking for healthcare. A descriptive analysis is also performed to describe the health information seeking behavior from hospitals, private general practitioners, dental practices, midwifery practices, private clinics, and traditional health practices among people who have and have not tested positive for COVID-19. Our findings show that both people who have (20,21%) and have not tested (26,56%) tend to seek health information from only one health facility. We also find that telemedicine has also a great importance for the people in obtaining reliable health information.