Designing the Model of Information Anorexia Among Medical Students in the Hamedan University of Medical Sciences Using Grounded Theory

People with information anorexia severely limit the acquisition and use of information and lose the opportunity to receive new information, and often rely on a few limited sources of information. This study aims to investigate the information anorexia of medical students in Hamedan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS).

The is qualitative study based on grounded theory conducted in 2019. By using purposive and snowball sampling method, 27 samples were selected for this study including faculty members of knowledge and information sciences, faculty members of psychology, and students in general medicine (second-year or higher) in HUMS. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The coding process (Open, axial, and selective coding) was conducted after interviews and the main categories were extracted. Data analysis was carried out in MAXQDA version 12 software.

The causal factors of information anorexia were the students’ physiological/cognitive/motivational status and skills. Intervening factors were the higher education system, students’ field of study, and society. Contextual factors were the characteristics of information, characteristics of information sources, and the issues affected by the information age. 

Since information anorexia in medical students can lead to harmful social, scientific and economic consequences, it is important to identify and reduce it by promoting the students’ skills such as information literacy, personal information management, and critical thinking.