2021
DOI: 10.1177/10105395211001173
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

Leveraging Health Helplines to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Study of Helpline Utilization for COVID-19 in Eight States of India

Abstract: During a health emergency such as the current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, immediate access to validated information is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, unverified, unreliable, and speculative information flows at an unprecedented rate in today’s world, leading to an “infodemic.” In such a scenario, Indian states have used telephone-based health helplines to provide an effective channel for the provision of validated, accurate, and up-to-date information. We analyzed the utilization of the… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
2
2
1

Citation Types

1
12
0

Year Published

2022
2022
2023
2023

Publication Types

Select...
5
2

Relationship

0
7

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 7 publications
(13 citation statements)
references
References 2 publications
1
12
0
Order By: Relevance
“…Further spikes in contacts coincided with national and regional lockdowns and the introduction of a new helpline in mid 2020. Our findings are consistent with international studies showing helpline service demand increased following lockdowns or spikes in infection rates (22)(23)(24)(25)(26), followed by decreased demand (22)(23)(24)26). Moreover, although there was a gradual 0.5% decline in contacts after the first national lockdown, and we have seen some peaks and troughs during regional lockdowns, the overall demand stabilised at a new, higher level with an overall upward trend.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 91%
See 2 more Smart Citations
“…Further spikes in contacts coincided with national and regional lockdowns and the introduction of a new helpline in mid 2020. Our findings are consistent with international studies showing helpline service demand increased following lockdowns or spikes in infection rates (22)(23)(24)(25)(26), followed by decreased demand (22)(23)(24)26). Moreover, although there was a gradual 0.5% decline in contacts after the first national lockdown, and we have seen some peaks and troughs during regional lockdowns, the overall demand stabilised at a new, higher level with an overall upward trend.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 91%
“…Within the methodological constraints outlined above, these studies suggest that nearly two-thirds of contacts to helplines at the start of the pandemic were coming from females (25,26), although lower proportion of female callers were found in a study from India (13% females) (24) and higher proportions of females in the elderly (30) and younger populations (22) (85% and ∼75% respectively). In an Australian study of younger people, the increase in demand was also higher for females (5% monthly increase from January to August 2020) than for males (4% monthly increase from September 2019 to August 2020).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 87%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…Although many countries have attempted diverse methods to overcome the challenges imposed by the pandemic, there is lack of evidence on establishment of patient helpline systems in a low-resource setting. Implementation of patient helpline systems in a low-resource context involves unique challenges, including financial, logistical, administrative and technological [4][5][6][7][8] .…”
Section: Challenges and Sustainabilitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Patients were distressed not only by their own illness but also by the potential plight of their family members. The entire scenario created the highest possible challenge in communication 8 .…”
Section: Challenges and Sustainabilitymentioning
confidence: 99%