(Mis)Information, Fears and Preventative Health Behaviours Related to COVID-19
Castellano-Tejedor, Carmina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Evolutiva i de l'Educació)
Torres-Serrano, Maria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Evolutiva i de l'Educació)
Cencerrado Barraqué, Andrés (Psynaptic, Psicología y Servicios Científicos y Tecnológicos S.L.P.)

Data:	2022
Resum:	Social and mass media platforms (SMM) are essential tools for keeping people informed about health-promoting practices. However, the potential to spread misinformation or false rumors exists. These might influence preventive health behaviours and incite anxiety and/or fear among the population. A sample of 300 adults participated in a survey to understand information needs, fears and preventive health behaviours related to COVID-19 while analyzing differences in COVID-19 ac-ceptance rates. Descriptive-correlational, between-group comparisons and regression analyses were applied. Most of the sample revealed a willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines (65. 4% vs. 34. 5%) and was prone to use and trust different SMM without experiencing significant obstacles in managing COVID-19-related information except for the need to ration it from time to time (x(2, N = 298) = 6. 654, p = 0. 036). Preventive behaviours/measures carried out were similar among the people re-sistant, hesitant or willing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. However, higher self-efficacy was ob-served in resistant vaccine individuals (F(2) = 3. 163, p = 0. 044). Psychological impact (need for psychological support due to COVID-19 situation) in accepting (F(5, 189) = 17. 539, p < 0. 001, R = 0. 317) and hesitant individuals (F(5, 77) = 17. 080, p < 0. 001, R = 0. 526) was explained by female gender, younger age, threat susceptibility and differential characteristics in terms of psychological symptoms experienced and SMM trust. No explanatory model was obtained for the resistant individuals. SMM could be effective tools to promote COVID-19 health preventive behaviours. However, psychographic characteristics might modulate information-seeking and management as well as self-perceived threat susceptibility and severity. All these factors must be accurately considered when designing different health preventive campaigns for the general public.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	COVID-19 ; Pandemic ; Information needs ; Misinformation ; Preventative behaviours ; Online survey ; Cross-sectional survey ; Population mental health ; Anxiety ; Fear
Publicat a:	International journal of environmental research and public health, Vol. 19 Núm. 8 (4-2 2022) , p. 4539, ISSN 1660-4601

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19084539
PMID: 35457406

17 p, 1.4 MB

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