Tailored Personas of Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors Among Men With Prostate Cancer Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy: Qualitative Study.

Abstract

Patients with prostate cancer undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) must manage complex treatment side effects over extended periods outside the hospital, making online health information-seeking a key approach to self-management. However, individual differences in motivation, digital literacy, and psychosocial context significantly influence how patients seek and use online health information. The patient persona approach, which synthesizes individuals with similar behavioral patterns and needs into representative profiles, offers a practical method for capturing this heterogeneity and informing the design of tailored information support. This study aimed to explore the differences in online health information-seeking behavior among patients with prostate cancer undergoing ADT and construct patient personas to characterize distinct patterns of online health information-seeking experiences and related information support needs. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang Province, China, from July to October 2025. Purposive sampling was used to recruit patients receiving ADT. Semistructured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using inductive content analysis to derive codes, subcategories, and 4 core categories. Participants were systematically compared across these categories and grouped into personas based on recurring patterns. The personas were then presented with illustrative portraits. A total of 20 participants were included. Four core categories were identified for persona construction: motivation, information access preferences, barriers, and needs. The personas were categorized as follows: patients demonstrating proactive information management and high health literacy, patients exhibiting avoidant information-seeking driven by latent anxiety, patients engaging in family-doctor-mediated information-seeking, and patients displaying dependent and passive information-seeking behavior. Online health information-seeking behavior among patients with prostate cancer receiving ADT is highly heterogeneous and shaped by individual capability, emotional responses, and sociocultural factors. The identified personas may provide a preliminary and practice-oriented framework for developing more differentiated, culturally sensitive, and patient-centered online health information support strategies for patients receiving long-term ADT.