COVID-19 Information-Seeking, Health Literacy, and Worry and Anxiety During the Early Stage of the Pandemic in Switzerland: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Ilic, Anica; Roser, Katharina; Sommer, Grit; Baenziger, Julia; Mitter, Vera Ruth; Mader, Luzius; Dyntar, Daniela; Michel, Gisela (2022). COVID-19 Information-Seeking, Health Literacy, and Worry and Anxiety During the Early Stage of the Pandemic in Switzerland: A Cross-Sectional Study. International journal of public health, 67, p. 1604717. Frontiers 10.3389/ijph.2022.1604717

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Objectives: To describe COVID-19 information-seeking behavior (CISB) during the first stage of the pandemic in Switzerland and identify its determinants. Methods: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey (4 May to 6 July 2020). Participants self-reported their CISB (information sources and frequency), personal COVID-19 situation (e.g., perception about having had COVID-19), sociodemographic information, and completed validated measures of health literacy, and worry and anxiety. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regressions. Results: We included 1,505 participants (24.7% male; mean age = 43.0 years, SD = 13.9). Most participants reported searching for information daily (n = 1,023, 68.0%) and referring to multiple information sources (mean 3.7, SD = 1.5). Commonly used sources were official websites (n = 1,129, 75.0%) and newspapers (n = 997, 66.2%). Participants with higher health literacy were more likely to seek information daily and use online resources, but less likely to use personal networks than those with lower health literacy. We did not find any association between CISB and worry and anxiety. Conclusion: More opportunities for personal dialogue and education about reliable online information resources should be encouraged to optimize the CISB of groups with lower health literacy.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Gynaecology
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Paediatric Medicine > Endocrinology/Metabolic Disorders
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR) > Unit Childrens Hospital > Forschungsgruppe Endokrinologie / Diabetologie / Metabolik (Pädiatrie)

UniBE Contributor:

Sommer, Grit, Mitter, Vera Ruth, Mader, Luzius Adrian

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1661-8564

Publisher:

Frontiers

Funders:

[4] Swiss National Science Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Anette van Dorland

Date Deposited:

29 Aug 2022 16:12

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:23

Publisher DOI:

10.3389/ijph.2022.1604717

PubMed ID:

36016963

Uncontrolled Keywords:

COVID-19 anxiety health literacy information-seeking media sources worry

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/172409

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/172409

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