Public health adherence and information‐seeking for people with chronic conditions during the early phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction People with chronic conditions, common among rehabilitation populations, may have risk factors that put them at higher risk for more severe illness due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Objective To describe and compare adherence to public health guidelines, willingness to adhere to public health guidelines (including vaccination), information‐seeking, and perceived trustworthiness of information among people with and without chronic conditions during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Design National cross‐sectional online survey of people with and without chronic health conditions conducted from April through May 2020. Participants Survey respondents were people with and without chronic conditions, ≥18 years old, able to read English, and in the United States since January 2020. In total, 3109 survey responses were received and 2572 complete unique responses were used in the analysis. Methods The survey assessed demographics, adherence to public health measures, information‐seeking, and perceived trustworthiness of information sources. Descriptive analyses characterized the sample, and t ‐tests and nonparametric tests were used to compare those with and without a chronic condition on the public health measures. Results Participants with a chronic condition reported high adherence to public health recommendations and high willingness to adhere to anticipated recommendations across a wide range of chronic conditions and similar to those without a chronic condition despite advised caution for people with underlying health conditions. Of those with a chronic condition, 70.8% reported a willingness to be vaccinated. Participants reported accessing information from varied sources, with perceived trust highest for the health care providers and lowest for social media. Conclusion Participants reported high adherence to public health measures, regardless of chronic condition status, during the early phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Knowledge of adherence to public health measures, information‐seeking, and trust in information can assist rehabilitation providers and organizations seeking to mitigate disease transmission, particularly for those with chronic conditions.

Multilevel determinants of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in the United States: A rapid systematic review

“… Fridman et al, 2021 , Teherani et al, 2021 , Akel et al, 2021 , Romer and Jamieson, 2021 , Keene Woods et al, 2021 , Ma and Ma, 2021 , Roberts et al, 2021 , Mondal et al, 2021 , Patil et al, 2021 , Rabin and Dutra, 2021 , Olanipekun et al, 2021 , Okoro et al, 2021 , Johnson et al, 2021 , Jacob et al, 2021 , Carson et al, 2021 , Bogart et al, 2021 , Rodriguez et al, 2021 , Ciardi et al, 2021 , Savoia et al, 2021 , Ofei-Dodoo et al, 2021 , Zheng et al, 2021 , Sharma et al, 2021 , Baniak et al, 2021 , Geana et al, 2021 , Hirshberg et al, 2021 , Rungkitwattanakul et al, 2021 .…”

Filipinos’ health information‐seeking behaviors and their implications for COVID‐19 vaccination

“…The choices that influenced the information apprehension of the surveyed Filipinos were “ I have difficulty making sense of information from multiple sources ,” and “ I fear that I might find out something I don't want to know .” As public health recommendations to stop COVID‐19 evolve, understanding people's actions can help healthcare practitioners, governments, and other organizations to encourage adherence, especially to those at higher risk (Roberts et al., 2021). Particularly for the Philippines, our findings can help inform local and national health policy reforms and provide a framework for health policy modifications and revisions at the local and national levels.…”

“…The top three reasons provided by Filipinos who answered "no" to being vaccinated were "concern about the vaccine's negative effects and safety," "plan to wait and see if it is safe and may get it later," and The choices that influenced the information apprehension of the surveyed Filipinos were "I have difficulty making sense of information from multiple sources," and "I fear that I might find out something I don't want to know." As public health recommendations to stop COVID-19 evolve, understanding people's actions can help healthcare practitioners, governments, and other organizations to encourage adherence, especially to those at higher risk (Roberts et al, 2021). Particularly for the Philippines, our findings can help inform local and national health policy reforms and provide a framework for health policy modifica- Based on our findings, the predictors of information engagement in the HIOS instrument were female gender, age between 25 and 30 years, and having a college degree.…”

The Influence of Provaping “Gatewatchers” on the Dissemination of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter: Analysis of Twitter Discourse Regarding Nicotine and the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Moreover, a high percentage of tweets by these top users are likely to be retweets of other users' original tweets. The influence of provaping gatewatchers would thus be evident in (1)…”

“…During health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, people who are at higher risk of being affected may be more likely to seek health information online [1,2]. However, in the absence of clear, concise, and complete information, digital information channels, such as social media, are often used to help people understand the implications of a health threat [3,4].…”