New Media Literacy, Health Status, Anxiety, and Preventative Behaviors Related to COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in Taiwan

Abstract

Internet media may exacerbate public confusion and anxiety about COVID-19. New media health literacy (NMHL) is considered to play a protective role against health-related misinformation from the media for individuals to maintain their health. The current study aims to examine the relationship among Taiwanese adults’ NMHL, health status, anxiety, and prevention behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey, and 342 responses were included in the analysis. The survey tools include Health Status, COVID-19-Related New Media Health Literacy, COVID-19 Anxiety, and COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors. The research showed that both functional and critical prosuming literacy had positive relationships with health status. Functional consumption literacy had a weak negative correlation with COVID-19 anxiety. Furthermore, critical consumption literacy had a positive relationship with COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Therefore, individuals’ health, anxiety, and prevention behaviors are affected by different aspects of COVID-19-related new media health literacy. Compared to their consuming media literacy, Taiwanese adults have insufficient prosuming media literacy in regard to COVID-19 health issues.

Predicting Compliance with Sanitary Behaviors among Students in Higher Education During the Second COVID-19 Wave: The Role of Health Anxiety and Risk Perception

“…The present study is innovative as it measures sanitary behaviors through a set of items representing different contexts, and different ease of behaviors application (Schmitz et al, 2022;Wollast et al, 2021). Such an approach provides a higher ecological validity in comparison to studies that adopt a single overall measure for each behavior (Brouard et al, 2020;Clark et al, 2020;Hung et al, 2021;Patil et al, 2021;Wollast, Sadeghi-Bahmani, et al, 2022). Moreover, these different indices allow to identify specific determinants for each preventive behavior (i.e., handwashing, mask wearing, social distancing and physical distancing), which is more accurate than with a single measure of compliance with sanitary measures (Wismans et al, 2020).…”

More is better? Understanding the effects of online interactions on patients health anxiety

“…Information interaction on online health platforms helps patients access health information, promotes patient empowerment, and improves perceived disease control and medical knowledge (Frost & Massagli, 2008; Wicks et al, 2010). Health literacy means acquiring a certain level of knowledge and personal skills to make lifestyle changes to improve health conditions (Hung et al, 2021; Rowlands et al, 2013). Due to their limited health literacy, patients may not fully understand the health information generated in healthcare settings.…”

Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables

“…Other constructs associated with media literacy, such as need for cognition and one's own perception of control of the information consumed (i.e., media locus of control), have been found to have both direct and indirect associations with decreased misperceptions of COVID-19 [41]. Outside of prior research on media literacy generally, further research on health-specific media literacy skills have revealed that those with higher digital health literacy are more likely to report intention to vaccinate and take the prospect of COVID-19 infection seriously [42]. At the same time, additional research has suggested that there are limits to the effectiveness of media literacy when accounting for political ideology, such that it can serve to reduce misperceptions among self-identified liberals but not among conservatives under the same circumstances [40].…”