Coverage of Health Information by Different Sources in Communities: Implication for COVID-19 Epidemic Response

Abstract

Health personnel and community workers are at the front line of the COVID-19 emergency response and need to be equipped with adequate knowledge related to epidemics for an effective response. This study aimed to identify the coverage of COVID-19 health information via different sources accessed by health workers and community workers in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study using a web-based survey was carried out from January to February 2020 in Vietnam. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used for recruiting participants. We utilized the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the construct validity of the questionnaire. A higher percentage of participants knew about “Clinical and pathogen characteristics of COVID-19”, compared to “Regulations and policies related to COVID-19”. The percentage of participants accessing the information on “Guidelines and policies on prevention and control of COVID-19” was the lowest, especially among medical students. “Mass media and peer-educators” channels had a higher score of accessing COVID-19 information, compared to “Organizations/ agencies/ associations” sources. Participants consumed most of their COVID-19 information via “Internet, online newspapers, social networks”. Our findings indicate an urgency to re-design training programs and communication activities for a more effective dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 epidemic or epidemics in general.

Stressors of COVID-19 and stress consequences: The mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of psychological support

“…Given the novelty of COVID-19, however, it is difficult to make definitive claims without a broader range of studies. Future studies may examine how proper provision of psychoeducation with accurate health information pertaining to COVID-19 for those who are psychologically impacted by the virus and its related outcomes ( Tran, Dang, et al, 2020 ). Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that for college students with high-levels of psychological support, the relation between stressors of COVID-19 and rumination as well as rumination and stress consequences remained significant.…”

Views on Covid-19 information

“…Bento et al 2020;Gutteling & de Vries 2017;Lopatovska & Smiley 2014), through different channels and sources (e.g. Lopatovska & Smiley 2014;Tran et al 2020). However, also avoidance of information might be the result (e.g.…”

“…Others have conducted online surveys inquiring about information behaviour, often during short periods of time (e.g. Laato et al 2020;Tran et al 2020). This abstract presents some first results from an online survey study conducted within the subject Information studies at Åbo Akademi University, on the reception and use of Covid-19 information and emotions related to this, opened right after a state of emergency due to the pandemic was declared in Finland in March 2020.…”

Are SAARC countries prepared to combat COVID-19 to save young, working-age population?

“…Redesign training programs and communication activities for more effective dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 epidemic. Television, online newspaper and social media can be used effectively with celebrities' participation to educate and convince people to comply with health rules [21] – [23] .…”