Are People With Chronic Diseases Satisfied With the Online Health Information Related to COVID‐19 During the Pandemic?

Abstract

PurposeA deluge of fake news and misinformation about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) on the Internet poses challenges for the public in their search for reliable and relevant health information for taking protective measures, especially among people with chronic diseases (PWCD). This study aimed to (a) understand the satisfaction level of the online information related to COVID‐19 in people with and without chronic diseases; (b) explore information‐searching behavior and digital health literacy in PWCD; and (3) identify the possible predictors of information satisfaction among PWCD.MethodsThis was a multicity, cross‐sectional study using an online survey with a convenience sample of people who (a) were 15 years of age or older and (b) had access to the Internet in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.FindingsFour thousand four hundred and seventy‐two subjects completed the survey, of whom less than 50% felt satisfied with the online information. About 20% of respondents (n = 882) were diagnosed with at least one chronic disease and reported a lower level of information satisfaction (p = .003) than the people without chronic diseases. The majority of the PWCD obtained their online health information from social media. Higher digital health literacy (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 5.07), higher frequency of searches regarding symptoms of COVID‐19 (adjusted OR = 2.07), higher perceived importance of quickly learning from the information searched (adjusted OR = 1.63), and lower frequency of searches on the topic of dealing with psychological stress (adjusted OR = 0.54) were found to be predictors of information satisfaction among PWCD.ConclusionsThe majority of PWCD sought online information related to COVID‐19 from social media, and their level of information satisfaction was significantly lower than among people without chronic diseases. Digital health literacy is a strong and significant predictor of information satisfaction.Clinical RelevanceTo support PWCD, we not only have to provide them with clear and accurate information, but also promote their digital health literacy so that they may seek, understand, and appraise health information from the Internet to make appropriate health‐related judgments and decisions.

Digital Health Literacy About COVID-19 as a Factor Mediating the Association Between the Importance of Online Information Search and Subjective Well-Being Among University Students in Vietnam

“…It may also be that low satisfaction can be attributed to respondents being more critical of available information, indicating a higher DHL. This might be especially true for people with chronic diseases who reported lower satisfaction with COVID-19 information in a Chinese study ( 43 ). Therefore, it will need further investigation to clarify this finding.…”

Health information-seeking behavior in the time of COVID-19: information horizons methodology to decipher source path during a global pandemic

“…It was found that participants of the study that suffered chronic diseases were less satisfied with online resources, but also that their digital health literacy was a strong and significant factor of their satisfaction. This was yet another study out of China that primarily examined social media HIS (Kor et al, 2020). Health literacy in general was repeatedly found in the literature to be a major factor in the discernment of information sources and the ability to make good choices in regard to disease prevention (Dadaczynski et al, 2021;Hashemi-Shahri et al, 2020;Sentell et al, 2020).…”

Literacia digital em saúde na população portuguesa, em contexto pandémico: um estudo empírico

“…Outros estudos não corroboram os nossos resultados, sugerindo que existe relação entre a literacia e a idade. Ainda assim, os resultados não demonstram ser consensuais, havendo estudos que demonstram que a literacia diminuiu com a idade (Berens et al, 2016;Espanha et al, 2016;Guo et al, 2021); embora outros estudos não consigam evidenciar esta relação (Dadaczynski et al, 2021).…”

“…Os resultados obtidos são equiparáveis ao do estudo realizado por Berens et al (2016) em que não se verificou diferença estatística significativa entre o sexo masculino e feminino. Outros autores como Dadaczynski et al (2021) encontram relação, onde num estudo com estudantes alemães, o sexo feminino revelou ter menores níveis de literacia digital em saúde. Um outro estudo feito por Rosário et al (2020) em estudantes universitários portugueses mostrou níveis de literacia em saúde significativamente mais altos nos alunos do sexo masculino.…”

“…A OMS nomeia esta abundância de informação, como uma "infodemia", uma epidemia da informação, que tem vindo a acompanhar a pandemia COVID-19 (Dadaczynski et al, 2021;Kor et al, 2021;Zarocostas, 2020). A atual utilização massiva da internet abriu novas oportunidades para os indivíduos acederem a esta informação, ou desinformação, imediata relacionada com a saúde (Chong et al, 2020).…”