Relation of corona-specific health literacy to use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background COVID-19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic which was accompanied by an «infodemic» consisting of much false and misleading information. To cope with these new challenges, health literacy plays an essential role. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a trend study in Switzerland on corona-specific health literacy, the use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their relationships. Methods Three online surveys each with approximately 1′020 individuals living in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (age ≥ 18 years) were conducted at different timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely spring, fall and winter 2020. For the assessment of corona-specific health literacy, a specifically developed instrument (HLS-COVID-Q22) was used. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate data analyses have been conducted. Results In general, a majority of the Swiss-German population reported sufficient corona-specific health literacy levels which increased during the pandemic: 54.6% participants in spring, 62.4% in fall and 63.3% in winter 2020 had sufficient corona-specific health literacy. Greatest difficulties concerned the appraisal of health information on the coronavirus. The most used information sources were television (used by 73.3% in spring, 70% in fall and 72.3% in winter) and the internet (used by 64.1, 64.8 and 66.5%). Although health professionals, health authorities and the info-hotline were rarely mentioned as sources for information on the coronavirus, respondents had greatest trust in them. On the other hand, social media were considered as the least trustworthy information sources. Respondents generally reporting more trust in the various information sources, tended to have higher corona-specific health literacy levels. Conclusions Sufficient health literacy is an essential prerequisite for finding, understanding, appraising, and applying health recommendations, particularly in a situation where there is a rapid spread of a huge amount of information. The population should be supported in their capability in appraising the received information and in assessing the trustworthiness of different information sources.

Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

“…In accordance with our findings, a recent survey conducted in Switzerland reported that a large number of respondents had difficulties assessing the trustworthiness of information from the media [ 30 ]. The lack of citizens’ trust in the media inevitably raises doubts about national and evidence-based public health strategies, leading to refusals to adhere to recommended actions.…”

An analysis of COVID-19 information sources

“…A study done in Germany reported there was a significant association between low educational levels and higher perceived COVID-19 severity [ 38 ]. This is because sufficient health literacy is an essential prerequisite for finding, understanding, appraising, and applying health recommendations, particularly in a situation where there is a rapid spread of a huge amount of information [ 39 ].…”

Promoting Social Distancing and COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions to Mothers: Randomized Comparison of Information Sources in Social Media Messages

“…The intervention’s social media messages seemed to affect mothers when they contained information sources that mothers considered credible, regardless of which source they received. Similarly, a recent study found that trust in specific sources of information on the pandemic results in higher COVID-19 health literacy [ 49 ]. Past research showed that risk communication must build trust in the government, medical organizations, and science to improve adherence to protection measures [ 97 - 99 ].…”

“…We experimentally varied 3 types of sources, popular for information about the pandemic [47][48][49], that can vary in credibility (eg, trustworthiness and accuracy) in the social media posts on COVID-19: government agency, near-peer parents, and news media. Government health authorities are trusted sources of COVID-19 information for many (but not all) people [50,51], with nongovernmental content and unverifiable sources seen as less trustworthy, especially when posted on social media platforms [52,53].…”