Experiences of Online COVID-19 Information Acquisition among Persons with Type 2 Diabetes and Varying eHealth Literacy

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has been a major source of information for people to keep updated with news and guidelines. However, concerns have been raised about the ‘infodemic’, which includes the overabundance of online information and the spread of misleading information. Adequate eHealth literacy skills among world citizens have therefore been emphasized as vital during the pandemic. Persons with type 2 diabetes have been at increased risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19 disease. This study aimed to explore online COVID-19 information acquisition experiences among persons with type 2 diabetes and varying eHealth literacy. Fifty-eight participants filled out the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), along with a qualitative questionnaire with free-text questions. Additionally, 10 participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis was applied to identify patterns in participants’ experiences. Two domains were identified: perceived challenges with online information about COVID-19, and coping strategies to manage challenges. The perceived challenges were: being exposed to information overload, dealing with conflicting information, and being strongly emotionally affected. The related coping strategies were: protecting oneself, trusting authorities, taking command, and using common sense. These strategies often involved triangulation of the information obtained, including participants consulting their common sense, various sources, or family and friends. This paper highlights the crucial role of authorities in delivering online information, that according to health literacy principles, is easy to access, understand, and use. Furthermore, our results reinforce the importance of diabetes nurses, as well as healthcare professionals in general, in encouraging patients to share their Internet findings, promote information from reliable sources, and deliver tailored information that suits individual needs. Because our results underline the importance of social support in eHealth literacy and the assessment of online health information, the inclusion of family and friends needs to be increasingly considered in diabetes care. Due to the small homogenous sample, the results of this study cannot be generalized. However, the reader can assess the transferability to other situations and settings based on our contextual descriptions.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Daily Life, Physical Exercise, and General Health among Older People with Type 2 Diabetes: A Qualitative Interview Study

“…Some participants in the study presented sleep disturbances, which, in many cases, were linked directly to COVID-19-related news. Concurring with our findings, a previous study reported that being exposed to information overload about COVID-19 can have a negative impact on the psychological health of T2DM participants [ 51 ]. Increases in time spent following news about COVID-19 predict declines in mental health and well-being in adults [ 37 ], whereas good sleep habits play an important role in the maintenance and restoration of good heath [ 52 ].…”

Diabetes mellitus e a disseminação de informações na internet: revisão integrativa

“…27 No mesmo sentido, diferentes estudos que avaliaram as discussões sobre diabetes em redes e fóruns online mostraram que apesar do crescimento considerável de postagens durante a pandemia da COVID-19 e suas medidas de isolamento e distanciamento social, o conteúdo apresenta, na maioria das vezes, limitações capazes de impactar na prevenção e controle da doença. [34][35][36] Esses eventos estiveram associados principalmente à sobrecarga de informações, em geral conflitantes que repercutiram de forma direta nos comportamentos e estilo de vida dos pacientes, assim como no reconhecimento do risco e da gravidade que essa condição de saúde apresenta. 34,36 Desse modo, considera-se que as Novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (NTICs) podem desempenhar um papel fundamental no acesso e disseminação da informação e, consequentemente, para o empoderamento individual e coletivo.…”

“…[34][35][36] Esses eventos estiveram associados principalmente à sobrecarga de informações, em geral conflitantes que repercutiram de forma direta nos comportamentos e estilo de vida dos pacientes, assim como no reconhecimento do risco e da gravidade que essa condição de saúde apresenta. 34,36 Desse modo, considera-se que as Novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (NTICs) podem desempenhar um papel fundamental no acesso e disseminação da informação e, consequentemente, para o empoderamento individual e coletivo. 41 No campo da saúde, o empoderamento encontra-se estreitamente relacionado à informação.…”

Telenursing needs and influencing factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross‐sectional study

“…Ladner et al (2022) showed that diabetes telenursing has more potential in rural areas. Studies have shown that (Christensen et al, 2022;Crowley et al, 2022;Iversen et al, 2020;Sjöström et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2022) telenursing for diabetes can improve blood sugar control (Goh et al, 2021), induce behavioural changes, reduce hospitalization and prevent complications, thereby improving at-home diabetic self-management (María Gómez et al, 2022).The implementation of self-management behaviours requires access to disease-related social support resources, including but not limited to family, friends, medical professionals and reliable information sources (Glasgow et al, 2000). In reality, telenursing is the telematics-based remote implementation of in-person care services (Al-Badri et al, 2022), which by its very nature still depends on actual nursing resources (Anderson et al, 2022).…”