What drives unverified information sharing and cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Laato, Samuli; Islam, A. K. M. Najmul; Islam, Muhammad Nazrul; Whelan, Eoin

doi:10.1080/0960085x.2020.1770632

Cited by 375 publications

(474 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…These ndings are in line with other studies showing, for example, no association between gender and cyberchondria [6] or between age and cyberchondria [19]. However, similar accurate studies have identi ed positive associations between cyberchondria, health anxiety, and COVID-19 anxiety [20], anxiety and health information-seeking behaviours [16], and cyberchondria and gender [19]. The results of the current study suggest the need for wider investigation of socio-demographic factors, such as level of education and health literacy, on the information-seeking behaviours of different populations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…There were no signi cant associations between cyberchondria and socio-demographic factors in our sample. These ndings are in line with other studies showing, for example, no association between gender and cyberchondria [6] or between age and cyberchondria [19]. However, similar accurate studies have identi ed positive associations between cyberchondria, health anxiety, and COVID-19 anxiety [20], anxiety and health information-seeking behaviours [16], and cyberchondria and gender [19].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…All electronic data was saved on a password-protected computer, and only the members of the research team were able to identify the responses of individual subjects. The participants with COVID- 19 have not been reported in any other submission by this author team and to our knowledge not by anyone else.…”

Section: Ethical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Cyberchondria, Uncertainty, and Psychological Distress among Omanis during COVID-19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Dameery¹,

Quteshat²,

Harthy³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Frequent surfing on the internet for self-diagnosis and treatment in association with quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic leaves people with uncertainty and psychological distress. The aim was to explore the relationship between cyberchondria, psychological distress, and uncertainty in Oman. Methods: A descriptive correlational study was designed. Data was collected through an online survey from 393 Omani participants using the short-form version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted.Results: The majority of the participants were aged between 18-26 and 45-54 years (32.8% and 30.8% respectively). Almost three-quarters of the participants were female (n= 291, 74%) and half were single (n= 218, 55.5%). No significant associations were found between cyberchondria and the socio-demographic factors or the COVID-19 status. However, significant positive fair correlation was found between cyberchondriac experiences and psychological distress (rs =0.373), and cyberchondria and uncertainty (rs = 0.442).Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind investigating the relationship between cyberchondria, physiological distress, and uncertainty in the Omani population. Policy makers and stakeholders are encouraged to facilitate the reporting and observation of accurate and up-to-date information distributed to the population to avoid misleading information, and thus reduce the distress and uncertainty related to cyberchondriac behaviors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Cyberchondria, Uncertainty, and Psychological Distress among Omanis during COVID-19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Dameery¹,

Quteshat²,

Harthy³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are limited examples of other COVID-19 relevant topics in information systems. For instance, Laato et al (2020) explored online information overload and the sharing of unverified COVID-19 information through social media. Naidoo (2020) explored how cybercriminals have been exploiting COVID-19 to target victims, impersonating trusted sources, and using social engineering techniques.…”

Section: Remote E-working and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

An affordance perspective of team collaboration and enforced working from home during COVID-19

Waizenegger

McKenna

Cai

et al. 2020

European Journal of Information Systems

414

450

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COVID-19 has caused unprecedented challenges to our lives. Many governments have forced people to stay at home, leading to a radical shift from on-site to virtual collaboration for many knowledge workers. Existing remote working literature does not provide a thorough explanation of government-enforced working from home situations. Using an affordance lens, this study explores the sudden and enforced issues that COVID-19 has presented, and the technological means knowledge workers use to achieve their team collaboration goals. We interviewed 29 knowledge workers about their experiences of being required to work from home and introduced the term "enforced work from home". This paper contributes to the affordance theory by providing an understanding of the substitution of affordances for team collaboration during COVID-19. The shifting of affordances results in positive and negative effects on team collaboration as various affordances of technology were perceived and actualised to sustain "business as usual".

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“…Therefore, information sharing in families should contribute to personal preventive behaviours. However, we found some reports on COVID-19 information sharing on social media [8,9] but no reports on the COVID-19 information sharing among family members in enhancing personal preventive behaviours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Association of Individual Health Literacy with Preventive Behaviours and Family Well-being during COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Family Information Sharing

Wong

Wai

Zhao

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Objective: We tested a model of individual health literacy, information sharing with family members, personal preventive behaviours and family well-being during COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Methods: We analysed data of 1501 randomly selected Chinese adults from a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong from 9 to 23 April 2020. Individual health literacy, COVID-19 information sharing with family members, preventive behaviours against COVID-19 and family well-being were measured. Structural equation modelling analysis tested the proposed model. Findings: COVID-19 information sharing with family members partially mediated the association between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours. The direct effect of .24 was shown and indirect effect through COVID-19 information sharing with family members was small with .03 (Z = 3.66, p < .001). Family well-being was associated with personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. The model was adjusted for sex, age, and socioeconomic status factors and had good ﬁt with RMSEA = .04, CFI = .98, TLI = .96, and SRMR = .02. Conclusion: COVID-19 information sharing with family members was a partial mediator between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. Strategies for enhancing health literacy and preventive measures against COVID-19 are needed to promote family well-being in the pandemic.

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What drives unverified information sharing and cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Cited by 375 publications

References 63 publications

Cyberchondria, Uncertainty, and Psychological Distress among Omanis during COVID-19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Cyberchondria, Uncertainty, and Psychological Distress among Omanis during COVID-19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

An affordance perspective of team collaboration and enforced working from home during COVID-19

Association of Individual Health Literacy with Preventive Behaviours and Family Well-being during COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Family Information Sharing

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