Factors Impacting Chinese Older Adults’ Intention to Prevent COVID-19 in the Post–COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Survey Study

Abstract

Background Understanding the factors influencing individuals’ health decisions is a dynamic research question. Particularly, after China announced the deregulation of the COVID-19 epidemic, health risks escalated rapidly. The convergence of “no longer controlled” viruses and the infodemic has created a distinctive social period during which multiple factors may have influenced people’s decision-making. Among these factors, the precautionary intentions of older individuals, as a susceptible health group, deserve special attention. Objective This study aims to examine the intention of older adults to engage in preventive behaviors and the influencing factors, including social, media, and individual factors, within the context of the postepidemic era. Drawing upon the structural influence model of communication, this study tests the potential mediating roles of 3 different types of media exposure between cognitive and structural social capital and protective behavior intention, as well as the moderating role of negative emotions between social capital and media exposure. Methods In this study, a web survey was used to collect self-reported quantitative data on social capital, media exposure, negative emotions, and the intention to prevent COVID-19 among older adults aged ≥60 years (N=399) in China. Results The results indicate that cognitive social capital significantly influenced protective behavior intention (P<.001), with cell phone exposure playing an additional impactful role (P<.001). By contrast, newspaper and radio exposure and television exposure mediated the influence of structural social capital on protective behavior intention (P<.001). Furthermore, negative emotions played a moderating role in the relationship between cognitive social capital and cell phone exposure (P<.001). Conclusions This study suggests that using tailored communication strategies across various media channels can effectively raise health awareness among older adults dealing with major pandemics in China, considering their diverse social capital characteristics and emotional states.