Dealing With the COVID-19 Infodemic: Distress by Information, Information Avoidance, and Compliance With Preventive Measures
Autor: | Georg W. Alpers, Katharina U. Siebenhaar, Anja K. Köther |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
media_common.quotation_subject
trust in media lcsh:BF1-990 compliance 050105 experimental psychology Compliance (psychology) 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine emotional distress Information seeking behavior eHealth medicine Psychology 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Set (psychology) General Psychology media_common Original Research Adaptive behavior eHealth literacy 05 social sciences COVID-19 Distress lcsh:Psychology Feeling information avoidance Anxiety medicine.symptom 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Clinical psychology |
Zdroj: | Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 11 (2020) Frontiers in Psychology |
ISSN: | 1664-1078 |
Popis: | In the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, media reports have caused anxiety and distress in many. In some individuals, feeling distressed by information may lead to avoidance of information, which has been shown to undermine compliance with preventive health behaviors in many health domains (e.g., cancer screenings). We set out to examine whether feeling distressed by information predicts higher avoidance of information about COVID-19 (avoidance hypothesis), and whether this, in turn, predicts worse compliance with measures intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (compliance hypothesis). Thus, we conducted an online survey with a convenience sample (N = 1,059, 79.4% female) and assessed distress by information, information avoidance, and compliance with preventive measures. Furthermore, we inquired about participants' information seeking behavior and media usage, their trust in information sources, and level of eHealth literacy, as well as generalized anxiety. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses to predict distress by information, information avoidance, and compliance with preventive measures. Overall, distress by information was associated with better compliance. However, distress was also linked with an increased tendency to avoid information (avoidance hypothesis), and this reduced compliance with preventive measures (compliance hypothesis). Thus, distress may generally induce adaptive behavior in support of crisis management, unless individuals respond to it by avoiding information. These findings provide insights into the consequences of distress by information and avoidance of information during a global health crisis. These results underscore that avoiding information is a maladaptive response to distress by information, which may ultimately interfere with effective crisis management. Consequently, we emphasize the need to develop measures to counteract information avoidance. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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