BACKGROUND:

People base their health decisions on the information they obtained from their environment, which includes health care providers, the media, and interpersonal networks. Learning about patterns of information acquisition allows the identification of people's preferred sources.

Aim:

To report the results of a survey about health information seeking, source trust, and routine exposure to health information.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

A health information trend survey, modeled after the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey was answered by 1411 Chilean participants aged over 25 years.

Results:

Seventy six percent of respondents sought general health information at least once. Internet (32%) and the health care center (30%) were the most common sources. One fourth of respondents sought, during the last 30 days, information about physical activity, and one third about fruit and vegetable consumption. Physicians and other healthcare workers were the most trusted sources, but only half of participants recalled having received a recommendation from them regarding the practice of healthy behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS:

This survey about health information seeking is a valuable tool to learn about people's health information environments and how these contents can influence their practices.