Knowledge/Power Transforming the Social Landscape: The Case of the Consumer Health Information Movement

The consumer health information (CHI) movement is the result of various twentieth-century ideologies and is an outgrowth of the broader consumer movement. From a sociocultural and political perspective, the consumer, civil rights, and women’s movements and related societal shifts helped pave the way...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Library quarterly (Chicago) 2011-10, Vol.81 (4), p.405-430
Main Authors: Huber, Jeffrey T., Gillaspy, Mary L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to Information
Civil Rights
Civil rights movements
Consumer behavior
Consumer Education
Consumer health information
Consumer information
Consumer protection
Consumer research
Context Effect
Decision making
Empowerment
Exact sciences and technology
Experimental Groups
Gender discrimination
Health care organizations
Health information
Health legislation
Health Personnel
Health policy
Health Services
Ideology
Information
Information and communication sciences
Information policy
Information science. Documentation
Labor legislation
Library and information science. General aspects
Medical Research
Participant Characteristics
Patients
Political revolutions
Power Structure
Risk
Risk assessment
Role
Sciences and techniques of general use
Social aspects
Social Change
Social Environment
Social movements
Social Systems
Time Perspective
United States
USA
Use and user studies. Information needs
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Summary:The consumer health information (CHI) movement is the result of various twentieth-century ideologies and is an outgrowth of the broader consumer movement. From a sociocultural and political perspective, the consumer, civil rights, and women’s movements and related societal shifts helped pave the way for the consumer health movement, which laid the foundation for the CHI movement. All are examples of freedom of choice expressed through action and mirror a growing societal determination to exert control over important areas of one’s life. The provision of consumer health information is a necessary support mechanism for that portion of health care focused on investing in risk reduction and shared decision making. As changes in the U.S. health-care system occur over time, access to CHI is likely to remain prominent and increasingly important to the ordinary person. Examining key components of the movement’s origins helps elucidate both present and future trends.
ISSN:0024-2519
1549-652X
DOI:10.1086/661657