부산대학교 도서관

Objectives This study noted the recent phenomenon of finding health information online as well as increasing interest in health. Especially investigated the effects of viewing contents related to medical information on health behavior intentions with a focus on Youtube and personal media contents. Methods We analyzed how creators’ reputation perceived by viewers(communication competence, influence, likeability and authenticity) and contents attributes(informativeness and entertainingness) affects the intentions of health behavior in terms of information reliability. Hypotheses and research questions are verified by 157 usable responses collected through an online survey targeting those who watched contents related to medical information on YouTube for at least once. Results Results of analysis indicated that creators’ reputation perceived by viewers and contents attributes are positively correlated to intentions of health behavior, which was mediated by information reliability. In other words, the intentions of health behavior increased when viewers positively assess the creator of contents or the informativeness and entertainingness of contents are perceived. The mediation effect of information reliability was statistically significant on enhancing the intentions of health behavior. Within the factors of creators’ reputation perceived by viewers, authenticity was found the be the strongest explanatory variable for health behavior intentions while the factors of contents attributes, informativeness correlates to health behavior intentions stronger than entertainingness. Conclusions The main findings of this research indicates that YouTube can be an effective channel for national health promotion. The role and application plan of YouTube contents related to medical information are also discussed.