Information seeking as social support in informal relationships -Structures, functions, processes, and effects of health-related proxy seeking

近年来（即在COVID-19大流行之前），通过各种媒体寻求健康信息的情况有所增加。这种与健康相关的信息寻求很大一部分并不局限于寻求者的健康，而是与他人的健康相关。然而，关于代理寻求的流行率、人口统计学特征以及健康相关因素的研究结果主要来自于对代理寻求者及其特征的二次分析，缺乏对这一流行媒介使用行为的结构、功能和传播过程的分析。特别是那些在代理寻求者和有关人员（即其健康是寻求信息的原因的人）之间的关系背景下的人。此外，代理寻求与哪些效应和沟通作用有关还不清楚.其理论基础是社会支持的概念以及两步流（作为健康相关信息传递和意见引导的方法）。在为期三年的研究中，我们将采用社会网络的定性和定量方法对这些问题进行分析：首先，通过一个以自我为中心的定量网络分析（n = 1500），从寻求者的角度回答代理寻求的结构和功能。然后，随后的定性访谈（n = 90）将加深对代理寻求的功能和交换过程中的顺序的见解。此外，对求职者以及有关人员的潜在影响将被探讨。之后，一项定量调查（n = 1000）对此进行了更系统的研究。在最后的综合混合方法分析的定量和定性数据的典型角色的代理寻求以及频繁的模式的交流过程中，将被确定。结果增加了对代理寻求者（主要是家庭成员）的信息和建议需求的更好理解，因此有助于为医疗保健中的健康信息和信息流程的设计提供信息。由于家庭成员和朋友是健康信息的最重要来源和疾病治疗的关键人物，这为人口的健康提供了特殊的潜力.除了健康传播，这些研究问题也与传播学的其他领域有关。由于非正式关系中的信息寻求、推荐和交换问题在政治、技术和消费者研究中的意见领袖背景下也越来越相关，因此用社会网络分析（SNA）对其进行了研究，以更加关注信息寻求的社会环境和信息寻求者的社会关系的相关性。

Health information seeking in various media has increased in recentyears (i.e. already before the COVID-19 pandemic). A large proportionof this health-related information seeking is not limited to the health ofthe seeking person, but it related to the health of others. However, sofar results on the prevalence, demographics, and health-relatedcorrelates of this proxy seeking mainly stem from secondary analysis,which are concentrated on the seekers and their characteristics.Thus, analysis about structures, functions, and transmissionprocesses of this popular media use behavior are missing, esp. thoseagainst the background of the relationship between the proxy seekerand the person concerned (i.e. the one whose health is the reason forinformation seeking). In addition, it is unclear, which effects andcommunication roles are associated with proxy seeking. Theoreticalfoundations for this are the concepts of social support as well as thetwo-step-flow (as an approach for health-related information transferand opinion leading). In the three years of our project, we will analyzethese points with qualitative and quantitative social network methods.Firstly, a quantitative ego-centered network analysis (n = 1, 500) willprovide answers about the structure and function of the proxy seekingfrom the perspective of the seeker. Then, subsequent qualitativedyadic interviews (n = 90) will deepen insights about the functions andthe sequence within the exchange process of proxy seeking. Inaddition, potential effects for seekers as well as the concerned personwill be explored. Afterwards a quantitative survey (n = 1, 000)examines this more systematically. In a final integrated mixed-methodanalysis of quantitative and qualitative data typical roles of proxyseeking as well as frequent patterns of exchange processes, will beidentified. Results add to an improved understanding of informationand advice needs of proxy seekers (mostly family members) andtherefore help to inform the design of health information andinformation processes in health care. Because family members andfriends are among the most important sources of health informationand key persons for disease treatment this offers a special potentialfor the health of the population. Apart from health communication,these research questions are also relevant for other areas ofcommunication studies. As questions of information seeking,recommendation, and exchange in informal relations are alsoincreasingly relevant in the context of opinion leaders in politics,technology, and consumer research, they are examined with socialnetwork analysis (SNA) to pay more attention to the relevance of thesocial circumstances of information seeking and social ties ofinformation seekers.