Objectives: Low media literacy and exposure to media-produced content during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can affect the health of people in the community. This study aims to investigate the psychological effects of media use on the mental health of community-dwelling older adults. Methods & Materials: In this descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional design, 200 elderly people aged ≥60 years participated who were selected from daycare rehabilitation centers and retirement centers in Kerman, Iran in 2020 using a convenience sampling method. Data were collected using a demographic form (Surveying age, gender, education, occupation, marital status, income, and media use), and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Results: The mean age of participants was 66.60 ± 5.08 years. More than three-quarters of them were following the latest COVID-19 news via media (Local radio and television). Most of them (77.4%) had poor mental health status. Higher educational level (P<0.001), employment (p=0.003), and low frequency of media use (P<0.001) were the protective factors against poor mental health. High-frequency media use was a risk factor for the mental health of older adults during the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusion: The mental health of community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic is affected by media use and its frequency. It is recommended that older adults should avoid following the latest COVID-19 news, especially those from unreliable sources. Moreover, media managers should have more control over the news related to the COVID-19.

Background: Mobile-based social media play an important role in the dissemination of information during public health emergencies. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the contents and trends of public messages posted on Telegram during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A content analysis of the 1781 messages, posted in a public Telegram channel with more than one million subscribers performed over 9-weeks. The messages were categorized into seven categories. Results: In total, 39% (n=703) of all messages were related to COVID-19. With the official confirmation of the case of COVID-19 in Iran, the number of COVID-related massages started to rise. Overall, the most frequent messages were of joke and humor (n=292, 41.5%), followed by educational messages (n=140, 19.9%). Conclusion: Our study showed that the most popular messages during first weeks of COVID pandemic were satirical, indicating that people may not had taken the risks of this pandemic seriously. It is crucial for health organizations to develop strategies for dissemination of reliable health information through social media.

Introduction: Social media platforms provide easy access to an unprecedented volume of information which could influence the awareness and perception of people during public health crises. The current study aims to explore the trends and content of the posts on Instagram.Material and Methods: We performed a retrospective content analysis of available public messages posted on Instagram. We collected data between 23 January 2020 and 25 March 2020. The inclusion criteria included an Instagram post with a hashtag related to Coronavirus (i.e. # “Corona” and # “Coronavirus”, in the Persian language). Persian hashtags were used for retrieving posts. All posts were categorized into seven categories. We performed descriptive statistics with Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS version 26.Results: A total of 4280 posts were extracted, out of which 1281 were categorized into seven main categories including News (n=205, 26.7%), Criticism (n=136, 17.7%), Education (n=112, 14.6%), Coronavirus’s impact on the healthcare system (n=100, 13%), Combating Coronavirus (n=98, 12.8%), Coronavirus’s impact on society (n=89, 11.6%), Joke (n=28, 3.6%).Conclusion:Our findings revealed that the trend of posts on social media was influenced by factors such as the nature of the information sources as well as social and political occasions. This study provides insight into health dissemination on social media for future responses to public health crises.