Developing a structural equation model for predicting the health knowledge of users of the central Public library of Tehran province based on sources of health information acquisition and the mediating role of coping styles

Objective: The present research was conducted with the aim of developing a structural equation model for predicting the health knowledge of users of the central Public library of Tehran province based on sources of health information acquisition and the mediating role of coping styles.

Research Method: The current research was practical in terms of purpose and was survey in terms of type. The studied population is the users of the central public library of Tehran province. According to the determination of the sample size in the structural equation modeling methodology, the minimum sample size in this research was calculated to be 260. By confirming the validity of the "Health Knowledge" questionnaire by 5 professors of knowledge and information sciences, its reliability was also carried out with the participation of 30 people from the research community and the value of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.858. Out of 260 distributed questionnaires, 248 were returned and became the basis of data analysis. The tools of data collection were standard questionnaires of coping styles (Endler & Parker, 1994) and health information sources (Mousavi Chalak & Riahi, 2017) and a questionnaire which make by researcher about the health knowledge. SPSS software was used to check the demographic characteristics of the research community and provide descriptive findings, and Smart PLS software was used to check the hypotheses.

Findings: The findings of the research showed that the sources of obtaining health information of the users of the central public library of Tehran province have a direct effect on their health knowledge. Therefore, the first hypothesis was confirmed. The coping styles of the users of the central public library of Tehran province have a direct effect on their health knowledge, and thus the second hypothesis of the research was also confirmed. The main sources of obtaining health information for the users of the central public library of Tehran province are: doctors, nurses and health professionals, referring to local health centers and clinics, free websites and electronic health resources, and electronic books and resources. In addition, the results of the research showed that the participants in the research use the least amount of attending conferences and workshops, printed books, social networks on the web, and seeking help from librarians and information specialists to obtain health information.



Result: Conclusion According to the findings, doctors, nurses, and health professionals are the main sources of obtaining health information for the users of the central public library of Tehran province, which shows that the users during the crisis and when the health of the society is at risk act reasonable way and refer to health professionals. Considering the geographical location of the central public library of Tehran province in terms of access to medical centers on the one hand, and the community of educated users of this library in terms of education and social status on the other hand, it is not far from expected that they use health professionals to meet the need for health information of yourself. It is clear that in such a situation, the possibility of using librarians to obtain health information is very small. Doing a similar research to the present research in underprivileged areas highlights the role of the geographical region of the library in the use of health information resources by library users.

The results of the present study can be used for planning to improve the health knowledge of public library users. Identifying the psychological characteristics of users, taking into account the way of adopting a coping style and the most common resources used by users, provides the possibility of providing sufficient knowledge through these resources and reveals the existing obstacles for not using other sources of knowledge acquisition.