Quality of online information for the general public on COVID-19

Jayasinghe, Ravindri; Ranasinghe, Sonali; Jayarajah, Umesh; Seneviratne, Sanjeewa

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2020.08.001

Cited by 46 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We found that although the overall level of coronavirus-related eHealth literacy in this study was relatively high, there still remains a substantial proportion of the US adult population that has low coronavirus-related eHealth literacy; this population might thus be considered at higher risk of negative COVID-19 KAPs. Recent studies assessing the quality of health information available on the internet about COVID-19 have found inconsistent coverage of key public health recommendations with a majority of websites having moderate-to-low quality scores [ 53 , 54 ]. These authors identified substantial opportunities to improve the clarity of presentation of critical health information and argued that broader implementation and adherence to quality standards for presentation of COVID-19−related information available on the internet could be helpful in terms of improving public health literacy on this topic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Coronavirus-Related eHealth Literacy and COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among US Adults: Web-Based Survey Study

An¹,

Bacon²,

Hawley³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background During a global pandemic, it is critical that the public is able to rapidly acquire new and accurate health information. The internet is a major source of health information. eHealth literacy is the ability of individuals to find, assess, and use health information available on the internet. Objective The goals of this study were to assess coronavirus-related eHealth literacy and examine the relationship between eHealth literacy and COVID-19−related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs). Methods We conducted a web-based survey of a representative sample of 1074 US adults. We adapted the 8-item eHealth Literacy Scale to develop the Coronavirus-Related eHealth Literacy Scale (CoV-eHEALS) to measure COVID-19−related knowledge, conspiracy beliefs, and adherence to protective behaviors (eg, wearing facial masks and social distancing). Our analyses identified sociodemographic associations with the participants’ CoV-eHEALS scores and an association between the CoV-eHEALS measure and COVID-19 KAPs. Results The internal consistency of the adapted CoV-eHEALS measure was high (Cronbach α=.92). The mean score for the CoV-eHEALS was 29.0 (SD 6.1). A total of 29% (306/1074) of the survey participants were classified as having low coronavirus-related eHealth literacy (CoV-eHEALS score <26). Independent associations were found between CoV-eHEALS scores and ethnicity (standardized β=–.083, P=.016 for Black participants) and education level (standardized β=–.151, P=.001 for participants with high-school education or lower). Controlling for demographic characteristics, CoV-eHEALS scores demonstrated positive independent associations with knowledge (standardized β=.168, P<.001) and adherence to protective behaviors (standardized β=.241, P<.001) and a negative association with conspiracy beliefs (standardized β=–.082, P=.009). Conclusions This study provides an estimate of coronavirus-related eHealth literacy among US adults. Our findings suggest that a substantial proportion of US adults have low coronavirus-related eHealth literacy and are thus at a greater risk of lower and less-protective COVID-19 KAPs. These findings highlight the need to assess and address eHealth literacy as part of COVID-19 control efforts. Potential strategies include improving the quality of health information about COVID-19 available on the internet, assisting or simplifying web-based search for information about COVID-19, and training to improve general or coronavirus-specific search skills.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Coronavirus-Related eHealth Literacy and COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among US Adults: Web-Based Survey Study

An¹,

Bacon²,

Hawley³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Particularly, online health information plays a significant role in creating knowledge and awareness of people about COVID-19. 8 , 11 However, there are too many sources and sites through which anyone can obtain information, and many of them are not credible which resulted in misinformation and difficulties to distinguish between rumors and reality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Community Risk Perception and Compliance with Preventive Measures for COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia</p>

Siraye¹,

Asrese²,

Andualem³

2020

RMHP

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Purpose This study assessed the community’s level of risk perception of COVID-19, their compliance with recommended precautionary measures, and factors that influence compliance behavior. Methods This study is a cross-sectional online survey administered using google forms. Data were collected from 521 respondents using various social media channels, including e-mail, Facebook, messenger, telegram, and IMO. Results About 9 in 10 respondents (90.4%) perceived that they are susceptible to COVID-19. Nearly 9 in 10 participants (87.5%) perceived that COVID-19 is a serious disease. The majority of respondents (81%) got information about COVID-19 from television and social networking sites. The regression analyses revealed that compliance with preventive behaviors is differed by respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics. Being female (β: 0.094, P<0.05), higher perceived effectiveness of recommended preventive measures (β: 0.367, P<0.001), and higher perceived reliability of media (β: 0.189, P<0.001) facilitated compliance with preventive measures. On the other hand, increasing age (β: −0.096, P<0.05), being single (β: −0.127, P<0.01), lower education level (β: −0.168, P<0.01), and living at a lower administrative level were barriers to be compliant with preventive measures. Conclusion The majority of the respondents exercised one or more of the recommended preventive measures to avoid COVID-19 infection. Most of the respondents got information about COVID-19 from television and social networking sites. Given that about 80% of the Ethiopian population is living in rural areas without television and higher illiteracy rate to use social networking sites, concerned bodies should introduce tailored interventions to impart knowledge about COVID-19 infection and mitigating measures. Limitations Although the sampling procedure was random through the online system, it might not be representative to study the perception and compliance of people towards COVID-19 prevention practices at a country level due to its small size. Thus, the interpretation of the study findings needs to consider this limitation.

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“…On reviewing the published literature on PubMed using the search terms ‘readability’, ‘reading’, ‘quality’, ‘online’, ‘coronavirus’ and ‘COVID-19’, we discovered four other articles with similar methodologies, reviewing either the quality or readability of COVID-19 information online. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 The compiled results of all the studies are represented in Table 1 . The findings of these other studies reflect the conclusions of Szmuda et al., with the average United States reading level of Websites across readability scores ranging from 8th to 11th grade.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 7 and Jayasinghe et al. 5 both assessed the quality of Websites using the DISCERN instrument (max = 80). 8 The scores were 28.91 and 49.5, respectively, equating to ‘Poor’ and ‘Fair’ in terms of information quality.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Re: ‘Readability of online patient education material for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a cross-sectional health literacy study’

Lim

Johnston

2021

Public Health

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Quality of online information for the general public on COVID-19

Abstract: Highlights Considerable deficiency in reliability and quality of information was noted. The majority of websites had low to moderate readability and usability. Lack for proper standardisation and monitoring are possible causes for poor quality.

Cited by 46 publications

References 15 publications

Relationship Between Coronavirus-Related eHealth Literacy and COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among US Adults: Web-Based Survey Study

Relationship Between Coronavirus-Related eHealth Literacy and COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among US Adults: Web-Based Survey Study

<p>Community Risk Perception and Compliance with Preventive Measures for COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia</p>

Re: ‘Readability of online patient education material for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a cross-sectional health literacy study’

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