The information needs of Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS: An analysis of expression through an online forum

Considering the growing prevalence of online health communities, online forums are vital channels through which people living with HIV/AIDS seek information. This study seeks to explore the fundamental information needs of Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS within online forums. Through qualitative analysis, this study identified themes and sub-themes of information needs from 1333 posts published on a Chinese HIV/AIDS forum. Chi-square tests were employed to analyze the correlation between the level of information needs and the vocabulary type (emotional and cognitive words) used to express information needs. The information needs of Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS were divided into four themes: social life, treatment, basic AIDS knowledge, and examination and diagnosis. Under “social life” and “basic AIDS knowledge,” the frequency of formal information enquiries was higher than that of conscious information enquiries, while the converse was found under “treatment” and “examination and diagnosis.” Furthermore, among the four themes, the frequency of emotional and cognitive words usage at the conscious level was significantly higher than that at the formal level. These findings reveal how online HIV/AIDS communities can tailor their information services to more effectively assist Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS.