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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Communication and Informatics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (23 March 2023) | Viewed by 17794

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Dr. Anna Bartosiewicz

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Guest Editor

Institute of Health Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszów University, Rzeszów, Poland
Interests: health promotion; physical activity; public health; nutrition; obesity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Edyta Łuszczki

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Guest Editor

Institute of Health Sciences, Medical College of Rzeszów University, Rzeszów, Poland
Interests: children and adolescents; nutrition; obesity; physical activity; public health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Dear Colleagues,

The mass media play a special role not only as a source of up-to-date information, but also as a tool that creates our everyday life. They affect our behavior, choices, and attitudes towards many fundamental values, including health. The support function of the media is very important in promoting a healthy lifestyle, conducting health education, and creating health-promoting behaviors. Health communication analyzes the available health information, applies to almost all levels of human life, and influences the building of proper relations between the patient and the therapeutic entity.

From the patient's point of view, properly conducted health communication is the basis for understanding a given health problem, responding to the disease, building motivation to fight it, and an important element in therapy affecting the healing process.

Thanks to the use of new technologies, health communication becomes easier to use and available like never, which, especially in the time of a pandemic, significantly improves access to consultations and obtaining necessary medical services.

Proper management of health information by the mass media is a prerequisite for supporting broadly understood public health. Scientific research, reflections and studies undertaken in this field constitute a transdisciplinary scientific field which, by uniting the science of communication with health sciences, fosters the development of science and strengthening health in society.

Dr. Anna Bartosiewicz
Dr. Edyta Łuszczki
Guest Editors

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Keywords

mass-media
health communication
tele-health consultation
public health
health promotion
interpersonal communication

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2445 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficacy of Three Numerical Presentation Formats on Lay People’s Comprehension and Risk Perception of Fact Boxes—A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

by Pascal Aubertin, Thomas Frese, Jürgen Kasper, Wilfried Mau, Gabriele Meyer, Rafael Mikolajczyk, Matthias Richter, Jan Schildmann and Anke Steckelberg

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2165; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032165 - 25 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1596

Abstract

(1) Background: Fact boxes present the benefits and harms of medical interventions in the form of tables. Some studies suggest that people with a lower level of education could profit more from graphic presentations. The objective of the study was to compare three different formats in fact boxes with regard to verbatim and gist knowledge in general and according to the educational background. (2) Methods: In May 2020, recruitment started for this randomized controlled trial. Participants were given one out of three presentation formats: natural frequencies, percentages, and graphic. We used Limesurvey^® to assess comprehension/risk perception as the primary outcome. The Kruskal–Wallis test and the Mann–Whitney U test were used in addition to descriptive analyses. (3) Results: A total of 227 people took part in the study. Results of the groups were nearly identical in relation to the primary outcome verbatim knowledge, likewise in gist knowledge. However, participants with lower educational qualifications differed from participants with higher educational qualifications in terms of verbatim knowledge in the group percentages. (4) Conclusions: The results indicate that all three forms of presentation are suitable for conveying the content. Further research should take the individual preferences regarding the format into account. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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18 pages, 643 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dr. Google: Physicians—The Web—Patients Triangle: Digital Skills and Attitudes towards e-Health Solutions among Physicians in South Eastern Poland—A Cross-Sectional Study in a Pre-COVID-19 Era

by Joanna Burzyńska, Anna Bartosiewicz and Paweł Januszewicz

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 978; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20020978 - 5 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2004

Abstract

The investment in digital e-health services is a priority direction in the development of global healthcare systems. While people are increasingly using the Web for health information, it is not entirely clear what physicians’ attitudes are towards digital transformation, as well as the acceptance of new technologies in healthcare. The aim of this cross-sectional survey study was to investigate physicians’ self-digital skills and their opinions on obtaining online health knowledge by patients, as well as the recognition of physicians’ attitudes towards e-health solutions. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to emerge the variables from self-designed questionnaire and cross-sectional analysis, comparing descriptive statistics and correlations for dependent variables using the one-way ANOVA (F-test). A total of 307 physicians participated in the study, reported as using the internet mainly several times a day (66.8%). Most participants (70.4%) were familiar with new technologies and rated their e-health literacy high, although 84.0% reported the need for additional training in this field and reported a need to introduce a larger number of subjects shaping digital skills (75.9%). 53.4% of physicians perceived Internet-sourced information as sometimes reliable and, in general, assessed the effects of its use by their patients negatively (41.7%). Digital skills increased significantly with frequency of internet use (F = 13.167; p = 0.0001) and decreased with physicians’ age and the need for training. Those who claimed that patients often experienced health benefits from online health showed higher digital skills (−1.06). Physicians most often recommended their patients to obtain laboratory test results online (32.2%) and to arrange medical appointments via the Internet (27.0%). Along with the deterioration of physicians’ digital skills, the recommendation of e-health solutions decreased (r = 0.413) and lowered the assessment of e-health solutions for the patient (r = 0.449). Physicians perceive digitization as a sign of the times and frequently use its tools in daily practice. The evaluation of Dr. Google’s phenomenon and online health is directly related to their own e-health literacy skills, but there is still a need for practical training to deal with the digital revolution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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14 pages, 1352 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Social Media Users’ Interaction Influence the Formation of Echo Chambers? Social Network Analysis Based on Vaccine Video Comments on YouTube

by Mingfei Sun, Xiaoyue Ma and Yudi Huo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 15869; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315869 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3905

Abstract

The characteristics and influence of the echo chamber effect (TECE) of health misinformation diffusion on social media have been investigated by researchers, but the formation mechanism of TECE needs to be explored specifically and deeply. This research focuses on the influence of users’ imitation, intergroup interaction, and reciprocity behavior on TECE based on the social contagion mechanism. A user comment–reply social network was constructed using the comments of a COVID-19 vaccine video on YouTube. The semantic similarity and Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) were used to calculate TECE and the effect of three interaction mechanisms on the echo chamber. The results show that there is a weak echo chamber effect (ECE) in the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. The imitation and intergroup interaction behavior are positively related to TECE. Reciprocity has no significant influence on TECE. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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13 pages, 770 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Illness Experience of Long COVID Patients: A Qualitative Study Based on the Online Q&A Community Zhihu

by Yi Wang, Sheng Bao and Yubing Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9827; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169827 - 9 Aug 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2383

Abstract

Long COVID is a public health problem that cannot be ignored, and it is critical to understand the long COVID patients’ living situations and support this group through their illness narratives. This study is based on grounded theory, and coded the self-produced texts of long COVID patients on the largest online Q&A community in China, Zhihu APP, in an attempt to explore the illness experiences of long COVID patients in China and to understand how they adapt to their illness and reconstruct their lives. The results show that patients face not only the threat of pain from the illness itself, but also social stigma and discrimination. Patients turn their illness experiences into motivation to move forward and reconstruct self and life by ‘pushing forward the biographical flows again’, ‘impression management’ and ‘self-compassion’. These findings can help policy-makers and medical institutions to provide timely and appropriate policy support and psychological assistance to patients with long COVID, to create a supportive and inclusive social environment, and to reduce discrimination and stigma against them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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12 pages, 2551 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Health as Battlefield: News and Misinformation in the Early Stage of COVID-19 Outbreak

by Qian Liu and Fan Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9800; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169800 - 9 Aug 2022

Viewed by 1498

Abstract

From the epidemic center in Wuhan to the entirety of China, with the growing infected population, people are seeking and processing health-related information both online and from traditional media outlets such as newspapers. Online misinformation regarding COVID-19 has been influencing a wide range of readers demonstrating general citizens’ virus-related concerns, while press media have been actively participating in health communication in an attempt to build up a robust, harmonious, and healthy environment. Via a comparison between the news data with the misinformation data during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 1 January 2020 to 20 February 2020, we conducted an LDA topic-modeling analysis and a sentiment analysis. This study sheds light on the nature of people’s methods of health communication with online and press media sources during the early period of the pandemic crisis and provides possible readable explanations for the driving force of misinformation and the emotional changes experienced by the public. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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18 pages, 2663 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Health Communication through Chinese Media on E-Cigarette: A Topic Modeling Approach

by Qian Liu, Yu Liang, Siyi Wang, Zhongguo Huang, Qing Wang, Miaoyutian Jia, Zihang Li and Wai-Kit Ming

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 7591; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137591 - 21 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2375

Abstract

Background: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been a newsworthy topic in China. E-cigarettes are receiving greater consumer attention due to the rise of the Chinese e-cigarettes industry. In the past decade, e-cigarettes have been widely debated across the media, particularly their identity and their health effects. Objective: this study aims to (1) find the key topics in e-cigarette news and (2) provide suggestions for future media strategies to improve health communication. Method: We collected Chinese e-cigarettes news from 1 November 2015 to 31 October 2020, in the Huike (WiseSearch) database, using “e-cigarettes” (Chinese: “电子烟”) as the keyword. We used the Jieba package in python to perform the data cleaning process and the Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling method to generate major themes of the health communication through news content. Main finding: through an analysis of 1584 news articles on e-cigarettes, this paper finds 26 topics covered with 4 themes as regulations and control (n = 475, 30%), minor protection (n = 436, 27.5%), industry activities (n = 404, 25.5%), and health effects (n = 269, 17%). The peak and decline of the number of news articles are affected by time and related regulations. Conclusion: the main themes of Chinese news content on e-cigarettes are regulations and control, and minor protection. Newspapers should shoulder the responsibilities and play an important role in health communication with balanced coverage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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13 pages, 697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) among Polish Social Media Users

by Joanna Burzyńska, Magdalena Rękas and Paweł Januszewicz

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(7), 4067; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074067 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2923

Abstract

Social media have become mainstream online tools that allow individuals to connect and share information. Such platforms also influence people’s health behavior in the way they communicate about personal health, treatment, or physicians. Individuals’ ability to find and apply online health information on specific health problems can be measured using a valid and reliable instrument, the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric aspects of the Polish version of this instrument (eHEALS-Pl) among social media users, which has not been explored so far. We examined the translated version of the eHEALS in a representative sample of Polish social media users (n = 1527). CAWI (computer-assisted web interviews) was a method to collect data. The reliability of the eHEALS-Pl was measured by calculating the Cronbach alpha coefficients and analyzing the principal components. Exploratory factor analysis and hypothesis testing was used to assess the construct validity of the instrument. The internal consistency of the eHEALS-Pl was sufficient: Cronbach alpha = 0.84. The item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.514 to 0.666. EFA revealed a single structure explaining 47.42% of the variance, with high factor loadings of the item ranging from 0.623 to 0.769. Hypothesis testing also supported the validity of eHEALS-Pl. The eHEALS-Pl evaluation supported by social media users reviled its equivalence to the original instrument developed by Norman and Skinner in 2006 and it can be used to measure e-health literacy. Since there is no prior validation of the eHEALS among social media users, these findings may indicate important directions in evaluating digital skills, especially in relation to the current challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Media and Health Communication)

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