TY  - JOUR
AU  - Liu, Darren
AU  - Yamashita, Takashi
AU  - Burston, Betty
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/11/02
TI  - Identifying Consumers Who Search for Long-Term Care on the Web: Latent Class Analysis
JO  - JMIR Aging
SP  - e10763
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
KW  - internet
KW  - information seeking behavior
KW  - consumer health information
KW  - marketing of health services
KW  - public reporting
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 2561-7605
UR  - https://aging.jmir.org/2018/2/e10763/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/10763
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31518237
DO  - 10.2196/10763
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/10763
ER  -