Infodemic Preparedness and COVID-19: Searching about Public Health and Social Measures Is Associated with Digital Health Literacy in University Students
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. DHL Related to Coronavirus and COVID-19
2.3. Online Information about Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM)
2.4. Other Measurements
2.5. Data Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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All | Females | Males | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Participants | 3084 | 75.7 | 23.9 | |
Age [mean (SD)] | 24.2 (7.5) | 23.8 (7.0) | 25.5 (8.9) | ≤0.001 a |
Course [n (%)] | ||||
Engineering sciences | 386 (14.7) | 195 (9.8) | 188 (29.7) | ≤0.001 b |
Humanities | 145 (5.5) | 109 (5.5) | 34 (5.4) | |
Exact sciences|natural|other | 253 (9.6) | 193 (9.7) | 57 (9.0) | |
Health sciences | 886 (33.7) | 752 (37.9) | 134 (21.2) | |
Social sciences|Psychology|Education | 960 (36.5) | 737 (37.1) | 220 (34.8) | |
Degree of study [n (%)] | ||||
Bachelor | 1331 (50.7) | 1047 (52.8) | 278 (43.9) | ≤0.001 b |
Master (integrated) | 544 (20.7) | 373 (18.8) | 168 (26.5) | |
Post-graduation and master | 543 (20.7) | 407 (20.5) | 135 (21.3) | |
Doctorate | 209 (8.0) | 157 (7.9) | 52 (8.2) | |
Subjective social status [n (%)] | ||||
Below median | 1345 (51.4) | 1020 (51.4) | 325 (51.5) | 0.967 b |
Median and above | 1270 (48.6) | 964 (48.6) | 306 (48.5) |
Information Search | Adding Self-Gen. Content | Determining Relevance | Evaluating Reliability | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Limited | Sufficient | Limited | Sufficient | Limited | Sufficient | Limited | Sufficient | |
N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | |
Participants | 999 (54.7) | 827 (45.3) | 1308 (72.1) | 505 (27.9) | 993 (54.4) | 832 (45.6) | 970 (53.2) | 854 (46.8) |
Sex | n.s. | χ2 (1) = 7.204, p = 0.007 | χ2 (1) = 4882, p = 0.027 | n.s | ||||
Male | 233 (52.0) | 215 (48.0) | 299 (67.2) | 146 (32.8) | 223 (49.9) | 224 (50.1) | 245 (54.8) | 202 (45.2) |
Female | 766 (55.6) | 612 (45.3) | 1009 (73.8) | 359 (26.2) | 770 (55.9) | 608 (44.1) | 725 (52.7) | 652 (47.3) |
Course | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | ||||
Engineering sciences | 126 (50.6) | 123 (49.4) | 183 (73.5) | 66 (26.5) | 134 (53.8) | 115 (46.2) | 146 (58.6) | 103 (41.4) |
Humanities | 48 (51.6) | 45 (48.4) | 66 (71.7) | 26 (28.3) | 47 (50.5) | 46 (49.5) | 47 (51.1) | 45 (48.9) |
Exact sciences|natural|other | 87 (51.5) | 82 (48.5) | 125 (74.4) | 43 (25.6) | 88 (52.1) | 81 (47.9) | 82 (48.8) | 86 (51.2) |
Health sciences | 356 (55.4) | 287 (44.6) | 468 (73.7) | 167 (26.3) | 354 (55.1) | 289 (44.9) | 331 (51.5) | 312 (48.5) |
Social sciences|Psychology|Education | 380 (57.1) | 286 (42.9) | 463 (35.5) | 201 (30.3) | 365 (54.9) | 300 (45.1) | 361 (54.2) | 305 (45.8) |
Degree of study | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | ||||
Bachelor | 511 (55.5) | 409 (44.5) | 652 (71.4) | 261 (28.6) | 499 (54.2) | 421 (45.8) | 501 (54.5) | 419 (45.5) |
Master (integrated) | 196 (53.8) | 168 (46.2) | 267 (74.2) | 93 (25.8) | 204 (56.2) | 159 (43.8) | 203 (55.9) | 160 (44.1) |
Post-graduation and master | 216 (57.3) | 161 (42.7) | 272 (72.5) | 103 (27.5) | 205 (54.4) | 172 (45.2) | 191 (50.7) | 186 (49.3) |
Doctorate | 76 (46.1) | 89 (53.9) | 117 (70.9) | 48 (29.1) | 85 (51.5) | 80 (48.5) | 75 (45.7) | 89 (54.3) |
Subjective Social Status | n.s. | n.s. | n.s. | χ2 (1) = 6.598, p = 0.010 | ||||
Below median | 534 (56.8) | 464 (52.4) | 690 (73.9) | 244 (26.1) | 530 (56.4) | 410 (43.6) | 527 (56.1) | 413 (43.9) |
Median and above | 406 (43.2) | 421 (47.6) | 617 (70.3) | 261 (29.7) | 462 (54.4) | 422 (47.7) | 442 (50.1) | 441 (49.9) |
Digital Health Literacy Related with COVID-19 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Public Health and Social Measures | Information Search | Adding Self-Gen. Content | Evaluating Reliability | Determining Relevance | ||||
Unadjusted | Adjusted | Unadjusted | Adjusted | Unadjusted | Adjusted | Unadjusted | Adjusted | |
Personal protective measures | 1.1 (0.8; 1.4) | 1.2 (0.9; 1.4) | 1.0 (0.7; 1.4) | 1.1 (0.9; 1.5) | 1.4 (1.1; 1.9) | 1.4 (1.1; 1.7) | 1.7 (1.3; 2.3) | 1.5 (1.2; 1.8) |
Surveillance and response measures | 1.3 (1.0; 1.9) | 1.3 (1.0; 1.6) | 1.3 (0.9; 1.9) | 1.3 (0.9; 1.8) | 1.4 (1.0; 1.9) | 1.3 (1.0; 1.7) | 1.7 (1.2; 2.4) | 1.4 (1.1; 1.9) |
Environmental, economic and psychosocial measures | 1.0 (0.8; 1.3) | 1.1 (0.9; 1.39 | 1.2 (0.9; 1.5) | 1.2 (0.9; 1.5) | 1.1 (0.9; 1.4) | 1.2 (1.0; 1.4) | 1.3 (1.0; 1.6) | 1.2 (1.0; 1.4) |
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Rosário, R.; Fronteira, I.; Martins, M.R.O.; Augusto, C.; Silva, M.J.; Messer, M.; Martins, S.; Duarte, A.; Ramos, N.; Rathmann, K.; et al. Infodemic Preparedness and COVID-19: Searching about Public Health and Social Measures Is Associated with Digital Health Literacy in University Students. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 12320. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912320
Rosário R, Fronteira I, Martins MRO, Augusto C, Silva MJ, Messer M, Martins S, Duarte A, Ramos N, Rathmann K, et al. Infodemic Preparedness and COVID-19: Searching about Public Health and Social Measures Is Associated with Digital Health Literacy in University Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(19):12320. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912320
Chicago/Turabian StyleRosário, Rafaela, Inês Fronteira, Maria R. O. Martins, Cláudia Augusto, Maria José Silva, Melanie Messer, Silvana Martins, Ana Duarte, Neida Ramos, Katharina Rathmann, and et al. 2022. "Infodemic Preparedness and COVID-19: Searching about Public Health and Social Measures Is Associated with Digital Health Literacy in University Students" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 19: 12320. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912320