Using fear appeal theories to understand the effects of location information of patients on citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study examines the association between cyberchondria and health anxiety in the Pakistani population, with health literacy as a moderator. This study utilized a cross-sectional research approach, with data gathered through simple random sampling. The study enlisted 1295 participants from Pakistan aged between 18 and 70, 63% of whom were male and 36% of whom were female. The researchers found a statistically significant positive link between cyberchondria and health anxiety (β = 0.215; t = 1.052; p 0.000). The moderating influence of health literacy suggests that health anxiety has a significantly negative effect on the relationship between cyberchondria and health anxiety (β = -0.769; t = 2.097; p 0.037). Moreover, females had higher cyberchondria scores than males. Health-related anxiety did not differ between the sexes, and males had greater health literacy than females. These results emphasize the critical role of health literacy in the moderating effects of cyberchondria on health anxiety. Furthermore, they reveal significant gender differences in both cyberchondria and health literacy.

Social Media Users' Engagement with Fear Appeal Elements in Government's Health Crisis Communication via State-Owned Media

Government health messaging is significant to the containment of public health crises. Such communication may benefit from using fear appeal, a message strategy for promoting health and preventing diseases. Yet little scholarly attention has been paid to how fear appeal is employed in government messaging to promote social media engagement through online actions including likes, shares, and comments. These actions play a meaningful role in addressing communication exigencies within the context of health crises. In this study, quantitative content analysis and corpus linguistics methods were employed to analyze fear appeal-related elements in COVID-19 messages sent by a state-owned media outlet on social media. The results show that when compared to messages without threat, messages conveying threat elicited significantly more comments, in which emotions and perceptions to threat and efficacy were exhibited, while messages containing both threat and efficacy generated more engagement in comparison to messages with threat alone. Moreover, while subdimensions under efficacy were positive predictors of engagement, those under threat were primarily found to have exerted negative effects. The findings provide insights into how fear appeal elements can be employed in government health crisis communication to engage the public.

Neuroticism predicts national vaccination rates across 56 countries

Quite strikingly, there is significant variation in Covid-19 vaccine coverage around the world. Some countries do not progress from around 2-3% while others are close to 100% coverage. In addition to some already known economic, health and sociodemographic predictors, the present research is interested in emotional factors that may predict a significant part of this cross-country variation. We examined the personality factor Neuroticism, which corresponds to the relatively stable tendency to experience negative emotions, anxiety and low tolerance for stress. Results confirm that gross domestic product represents around 50 percent of cross-country variation. Neuroticism added 6 to 9 percent of inter-country variation in vaccination coverage. The results are discussed in relation to the associations between Neuroticism, increased worry, greater attention to Covid-19 related information and confidence, as well as lower vaccine hesitancy.

The Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Anxiety and Depression Among Working-Age Adults in Mainland China at the Early Remission Stage of the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

Background

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has led to a considerable proportion of adverse psychological symptoms in different subpopulations. This study aimed to investigate the status of anxiety and depression and their associated factors in the adult, working-age population in Mainland China at the early remission stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

An online study was conducted among 1,863 participants in 29 provinces in Mainland China from March 23 to 31, 2020. Their mental health was evaluated by the generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7) and the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9). Descriptive analysis, Chi-square, and multiple logistic regressions were applied.

Results

About 44.5% of the participants had anxiety, 49.2% had depression, and 37.9% showed a combination of depression and anxiety. Around 83.7% of the participants claimed that the pandemic had a negative impact on their medical needs, which was the primary predictor of mental health, the degree of impact being positively related to the prevalence of anxiety and depression. More chronic diseases, moderate to bad self-rated health, severe perceived infection risk, and younger age group were the common risk factors for anxiety and depression. Having no children, unemployment, and a college-level educational background were associated with higher anxiety prevalence, whereas unmarried participants were correlated with higher depression prevalence.

Conclusion

The working-age population showed a relatively high risk of anxiety and depression in Mainland China at the early remission stage of the pandemic. To improve medical services capacity for routine and delayed medical service needs should be a part of policy-makers’ priority agenda during this period of crisis.

Managing urban citizens' panic levels and preventive behaviours during COVID-19 with pandemic information released by social media

Reducing citizens' panic and promoting their preventive behaviours are critical parts of pandemic management for the government. However, the effects of pandemic information types (daily statistical vs. detailed case information) and sources (official vs. unofficial social media accounts) on the psychological states and behaviours of urban citizens need to be explored further. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of these effects for citizens from areas with different epidemic levels also needs further investigation. Therefore, we conducted a survey during the COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China in March 2020, and 1298 urban citizens (592 from Wuhan) offered reliable data. Results of linear regression analysis indicated that non-Wuhan urban citizens who were more concerned about detailed case information (e.g., patients' movement paths) exhibited more preventive behaviours than those concerned about daily statistical information (e.g., case numbers) and did not show higher panic levels. Additionally, regarding social media information sources, unofficial social media caused both Wuhan and non-Wuhan urban citizens to have higher levels of panic than official media but had no significant impacts on their preventive behaviours. These findings contribute to urban management through the discovery of the effects of different information types and social media information sources on urban citizens during pandemics.