Abstract: To grasp the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) information behavior of the elderly in general is beneficial for consequent and systematic development of TCM information service. The grounded theory was adopted. Twenty-two older persons were in-depth interviewed face-to-face. The constant comparative method and coding analysis strategies were used to analyze the data. A conceptual system of the TCM information behavior of the elderly was coded in this study. The key behavior categories and properties contained in different behavior process were extracted, and the behavior strategies were distinguished. From the perspective of behavioral flow and information flow, we analyzed the internal and mutual relations of different behavior. Then, the overall process model of the TCM behavior of the elderly was put forward. From the perspective of behavioral flow, the different actions in the whole process of the elderly Chinese medicine information behavior are cyclic and reciprocal, and the behavioral choices of different parts also have corresponding relationships. From the point of view of information flow, there are three information sets corresponding to the three behavioral parts of information obtaining, processing and use, namely, information source, information base and information property. There is also a two-way correlation between different information sets. In a word, the TCM information behavior of the elderly is a dynamic and cyclic process in which different parts of behavior flow and information flow interact and generate from each other.

Key words: The elderly, Traditional Chinese medicine information, Health information, Information obtaining, Information processing, Information use, User behavior analysis