@Article{info:doi/10.2196/10763,
author="Liu, Darren
and Yamashita, Takashi
and Burston, Betty",
title="Identifying Consumers Who Search for Long-Term Care on the Web: Latent Class Analysis",
journal="JMIR Aging",
year="2018",
month="Nov",
day="02",
volume="1",
number="2",
pages="e10763",
keywords="internet; information seeking behavior; consumer health information; marketing of health services; public reporting",
abstract="Background: Because the internet has become a primary means of communication in the long-term care (LTC) and health care industry, an elevated understanding of market segmentation among LTC consumers is an indispensable step to responding to the informational needs of consumers. Objective: This exploratory study was designed to identify underlying market segments of the LTC consumers who seek Web-based information. Methods: Data on US adult internet users (n=2018) were derived from 2010 Pew Internet and America Life Project. Latent class analysis was employed to identify underlying market segments of LTC Web-based information seekers. Results: Web-based LTC information seekers were classified into the following 2 subgroups: heavy and light Web-based information seekers. Overall, 1 in 4 heavy Web-based information seekers used the internet for LTC information, whereas only 2{\%} of the light information seekers did so. The heavy information seekers were also significantly more likely than light users to search the internet for all other health information, such as a specific disease and treatment and medical facilities. The heavy Web-based information seekers were more likely to be younger, female, highly educated, chronic disease patients, caregivers, and frequent internet users in general than the light Web-based information seekers. Conclusions: To effectively communicate with their consumers, providers who target Web-based LTC information seekers can more carefully align their informational offerings with the specific needs of each subsegment of LTC markets. ",
issn="2561-7605",
doi="10.2196/10763",
url="https://aging.jmir.org/2018/2/e10763/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/10763",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31518237"
}