The document summarizes a study on how contextual factors affect the sharing of human services information (HSI) between nurses and seniors at a community clinic. It finds that the physical environment, clinic activities, nurses' situations, and seniors' situations all shape HSI exchanges. The clinic qualifies as an "information ground" where people temporarily gather and spontaneously share information through casual conversations.

1. HSI FLOW, INFORMATION
GROUND, AND HEALTH AND
MEDICAL SERVICES IN THE
CONTEXT OF HUMAN
INFORMATION BEHAVIOR

2. INTRODUCTION
 When it comes to understanding how information is shared within a
certain field of human information behavior, one must examine the
context in which people are accessing that information.
 In the case of health and medical related human information
behavior, information is generally acquired in health or medically
connected settings such as a doctor ’s office or a hospital.
 In her study, “Waiting for chiropody: contextual results from an
ethnographic study of the information behaviour among attendees
at community clinics,” Karen Pettigrew demonstrates how four
contextual factors affect the acquisition of human services
information (or HSI) in a community clinic for seniors awaiting foot
care.: the physical environment, the activities of the clinic, the
situation of the clinic nurses, and the situation of the seniors
seeking care.

3. SOCIAL NETWORK THEORY
 Pettigrew offered Granovetter ’s social network theory as an
explanation of the interactions between the nurses and the seniors
in the study.
 According to Granovetter ’s social network theory, “any individual’s
network is composed of relationships that can be described as
weak ties (e.g. acquaintances and distant friends) or as strong ties
(e.g. close family and friends)” (803 ).
 Pettigrew hypothesizes that although nurses would be considered
weak ties in a senior ’s social network, they provide them with
information they could not obtain through their strong ties
(family). However, a senior ’s strong ties are still very important
because seniors rarely act on this information without consulting
their family first.

4. HSI (HUMAN SERVICES
INFORMATION)

5. HSI (Human Services Information)
What is HSI?
Prior to the study, HSI was identified as being
“disseminated when someone was informed
about the nature or availability of a program or
service that could help that person deal with a
problem(s) associated with daily living” (809 -
810).

6. HSI (Human Services Information)
Under this definition, HSI happens when:
One person physically communicates with
another
The person offering the HSI believes it will
change how the person listening will think about
the problem for which the information is being
given.

7. HSI (Human Services Information)
Pettigrew observed four contextual factors
affecting HSI flow in the study:
1. Physical environment
2. Clinic Activity
3. The Nurse’s Situation
4. The Senior’s Situation

8. THE 4 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AFFECTING HSI
1. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Includes such factors as… How did this affect HSI ?
 The type of building in which  Became a feature in
senior/nurse conversations
the clinic was located
 Discussions about the
 The room where the clinic weather led to
took place recommendations for snow
removal services
 The general layout of the
 Curtains which enclosed
clinic seniors during foot
 The day ’s weather treatment sessions
motivated them to talk with
the nurses about more
personal topics

9. THE 4 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AFFECTING HSI
2. CLINIC ACTIVIT Y
Includes such factors as… How did this affect HSI ?
 Atmosphere within the clinic  Group conversations often
 Waiting time for treatments occurred in many different
 Length of time the clinic varieties between the
lasted seniors and nurses.
 HSI flowed in many different
directions
 Seniors became a source of
HSI for nurses

10. THE 4 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AFFECTING HSI
3. THE NURSE’S SITUATION
Includes such factors as: How did this affect HSI?
 Their years of experience as  Nurse offers information
a nurse she/he thinks will be helpful
 Their knowledge of local to a senior, but might think
resources of or discover a better
 Their knowledge of the alternative later on
senior ’s situation
 Busy conditions at clinic may
 How busy she/he was
cause her/him to become
 Her/his professional views as unfocused, or not follow
a nurse
through on a conversation

11. THE 4 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AFFECTING HSI
4. THE SENIOR’S SITUATION
Includes such factors as: How did this affect HSI?
 Their personal circumstances  Senior engages nurse in a
 Their desire to interact conversation as a means of
satisfying their HSI need
 Varying perceptions of a
senior ’s situation between
the senior and the nurse
could result in a mismatch of
HSI

12. CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM STUDY
 HSI is a discourse phenomenon that occurs during social
interaction among two or more people
 HSI is dynamic in nature in that individuals both give and receive
HSI
 HSI is a complex phenomenon because nurses employ strategies
to ‘work up’ a referral while seniors use verbal and physical
indicators to express their degree of interest in a referral
 HSI is multiplex because a senior ’s needs may be separate from
the one they were initially searching for, but could be met
through the nurse’s referral making

13. CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM STUDY
HSI was redefined as “A communicative
construct involving the nature or
availability of local services and
programs that is produced in a social
community-based context” (811).

14. INFORMATION GROUND

15. INFORMATION GROUND
What is “Information Ground”?
“…an environment temporarily created by the
behavior of people who have come together to
perform a given task, but from which emerges a
social atmosphere that fosters spontaneous and
serendipitous sharing of information” (Pettigrew
811).

16. INFORMATION GROUND
How does the clinic qualify as an information ground?
 The information-exchange process is similar to formal information
settings such as libraries and community centers in that HSI need is
presented indirectly, but none of the seniors approach the nurses
with specific questions like “Where can I find X?”
 Information emerges though small talk and chit -chat about life in
general
 Small talk is occasionally used as a segue for questioning nurses
about their knowledge of an area in which the senior might be
experiencing difficulty
 Info about local sources is shared serendipitously without anyone
expressing or necessarily having a need for that information

17. INFORMATION GROUND
“…Against a backdrop of multiple contextual
factors, the clinic functions as a rich information
ground because information is shared in multiple
directions (i.e. anyone at the clinic can give or
obtain HSI) and because HSI is shared both
purposefully and serendipitously” (Pettigrew
812).

18. CONCLUSION
 The information behavior exhibited by the nurses and seniors in
this study illuminates how HSI may be affected in other
community-type settings
 Similarly, understanding the concept of an information ground
may help identify other places that may be classified under this
heading