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Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, media sources dedicated significant time and resources to improve knowledge of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (eg, wearing a mask). Many older adults report using the television, radio, print newspapers, or web-based sources to get information on political...

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Autores principales: Smail, Emily J, Livingston, Torie, Wolach, Adam, Cenko, Erta, Kaufmann, Christopher N, Manini, Todd M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10242469/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37213166
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46230
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author Smail, Emily J
Livingston, Torie
Wolach, Adam
Cenko, Erta
Kaufmann, Christopher N
Manini, Todd M
author_facet Smail, Emily J
Livingston, Torie
Wolach, Adam
Cenko, Erta
Kaufmann, Christopher N
Manini, Todd M
author_sort Smail, Emily J
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, media sources dedicated significant time and resources to improve knowledge of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (eg, wearing a mask). Many older adults report using the television, radio, print newspapers, or web-based sources to get information on political news, yet little is known about whether consuming news in the early phase of the pandemic led to behavior change, particularly in older adults. OBJECTIVE: The goals of this study were to determine (1) whether dosage of news consumption on the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with COVID-19 precautionary behaviors; (2) whether being an ever-user of social media was associated with engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors; and (3) among social media users, whether change in social media use during the early stages of the pandemic was associated with engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. METHODS: Data were obtained from a University of Florida–administered study conducted in May and June of 2020. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between traditional news and social media use on COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (eg, mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing behaviors). Analyses were adjusted for demographic characteristics, including age, sex, marital status, and education level. RESULTS: In a sample of 1082 older adults (mean age 73, IQR 68-78 years; 615/1082, 56.8% female), reporting 0 and <1 hour per day of media consumption, relative to >3 hours per day, was associated with lower engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors in models adjusted for demographic characteristics (β=–2.00; P<.001 and β=–.41; P=.01, respectively). In addition, increasing social media use (relative to unchanged use) was associated with engagement in more COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (β=.70, P<.001). No associations were found between being an ever-user of social media and engaging in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated an association between higher media consumption and greater engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors in older adults. These findings suggest that media can be effectively used as a public health tool for communication of prevention strategies and best practices during future health threats, even among populations who are historically less engaged in certain types of media.
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spelling pubmed-102424692023-06-07 Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults Smail, Emily J Livingston, Torie Wolach, Adam Cenko, Erta Kaufmann, Christopher N Manini, Todd M JMIR Form Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, media sources dedicated significant time and resources to improve knowledge of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (eg, wearing a mask). Many older adults report using the television, radio, print newspapers, or web-based sources to get information on political news, yet little is known about whether consuming news in the early phase of the pandemic led to behavior change, particularly in older adults. OBJECTIVE: The goals of this study were to determine (1) whether dosage of news consumption on the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with COVID-19 precautionary behaviors; (2) whether being an ever-user of social media was associated with engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors; and (3) among social media users, whether change in social media use during the early stages of the pandemic was associated with engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. METHODS: Data were obtained from a University of Florida–administered study conducted in May and June of 2020. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between traditional news and social media use on COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (eg, mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing behaviors). Analyses were adjusted for demographic characteristics, including age, sex, marital status, and education level. RESULTS: In a sample of 1082 older adults (mean age 73, IQR 68-78 years; 615/1082, 56.8% female), reporting 0 and <1 hour per day of media consumption, relative to >3 hours per day, was associated with lower engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors in models adjusted for demographic characteristics (β=–2.00; P<.001 and β=–.41; P=.01, respectively). In addition, increasing social media use (relative to unchanged use) was associated with engagement in more COVID-19 precautionary behaviors (β=.70, P<.001). No associations were found between being an ever-user of social media and engaging in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated an association between higher media consumption and greater engagement in COVID-19 precautionary behaviors in older adults. These findings suggest that media can be effectively used as a public health tool for communication of prevention strategies and best practices during future health threats, even among populations who are historically less engaged in certain types of media. JMIR Publications 2023-05-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10242469/ /pubmed/37213166 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46230 Text en ©Emily J Smail, Torie Livingston, Adam Wolach, Erta Cenko, Christopher N Kaufmann, Todd M Manini. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 22.05.2023. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Smail, Emily J
Livingston, Torie
Wolach, Adam
Cenko, Erta
Kaufmann, Christopher N
Manini, Todd M
Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title_full Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title_fullStr Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title_full_unstemmed Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title_short Media Consumption and COVID-19–Related Precautionary Behaviors During the Early Pandemic: Survey Study of Older Adults
title_sort media consumption and covid-19–related precautionary behaviors during the early pandemic: survey study of older adults
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10242469/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37213166
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46230
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