The health belief model and consumer information searches: toward an integrated model.

Some health data organizations (HDOs) are producing consumer-level health services information. National reform proposals would suggest that competition between health plans will be developed through the use of outcome information. Policy makers have paid little attention to how consumers might use that information or how that information might be most effectively packaged for consumer use. This paper argues that marketing literature developed over the last ten to fifteen years could prove to be an informative resource for policy makers and the health services provider community alike. This paper suggests that combining a consumer decision model (CDM) with the health belief model (HBM) will provide an important step toward an increased understanding of consumer information search behavior. This integrated model could form the basis of future research in this important area.