Resumen de Cultural differences in the health information environments and practices between Finnish and Japanese university students

Kreetta Askola, Atsushi Toshimori, Maija-Leena Huotari

• Introduction. The aim of this study was to identify cultural differences in the information environment and information practices, namely active seeking and encountering, of web-based health information between Finnish and Japanese university students.

  Method. The data were gathered with a Web-based survey among first-year university students at the University of Oulu, Finland, in 2007, and the University of Tsukuba, Japan, in 2008.

  Analysis. The data were analysed quantitatively with SPSS 17.0 for Windows using mainly cross-tabulations and Chi-squared tests.

  Findings. The statistically significant differences focused on the general information environment, and to the information practices used within several health information topics, including weight management related topics.

  Conclusion. The cultural differences may influence the seeking of Web-based health information and should be examined more thoroughly in future studies, which should be apply both qualitative and quantitative methods.