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Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany

Health information-seeking behavior is the process of gathering information about health and disease and can be influential for health-related perception and behavior. University students are an important target group for prevention and health promotion and largely belong to an age group that is con...

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Autores principales: Schäfer, Markus, Stark, Birgit, Werner, Antonia M., Tibubos, Ana Nanette, Reichel, Jennifer L., Pfirrmann, Daniel, Edelmann, Dennis, Heller, Sebastian, Mülder, Lina Marie, Rigotti, Thomas, Letzel, Stephan, Dietz, Pavel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7873736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33585388
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.616603
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author Schäfer, Markus
Stark, Birgit
Werner, Antonia M.
Tibubos, Ana Nanette
Reichel, Jennifer L.
Pfirrmann, Daniel
Edelmann, Dennis
Heller, Sebastian
Mülder, Lina Marie
Rigotti, Thomas
Letzel, Stephan
Dietz, Pavel
author_facet Schäfer, Markus
Stark, Birgit
Werner, Antonia M.
Tibubos, Ana Nanette
Reichel, Jennifer L.
Pfirrmann, Daniel
Edelmann, Dennis
Heller, Sebastian
Mülder, Lina Marie
Rigotti, Thomas
Letzel, Stephan
Dietz, Pavel
author_sort Schäfer, Markus
collection PubMed
description Health information-seeking behavior is the process of gathering information about health and disease and can be influential for health-related perception and behavior. University students are an important target group for prevention and health promotion and largely belong to an age group that is considered to play a leading role in propagating the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Germany. The paper deals with students' health information-seeking behavior before and during the corona crisis, aiming to give insights into its determinants and implications. Using the example of a large German comprehensive university and based on two cross-sectional surveys in the summer of 2019 (n = 4,351) and 2020 (n = 3,066), we investigate which information channels students use for health information, how information seeking changes during the course of the pandemic, and to what extent information seeking is associated with risk perception and risk behavior. For a subsample of participants that participated in both surveys (n = 443), we also trace developments at the individual level through a longitudinal analysis. The results show that students' health information seeking takes place primarily online and changed markedly during the corona crisis. The comparatively high relevance of sources that are largely based on unchecked user-generated content raises the concern whether students' health information-seeking behavior guarantees the necessary quality and reliability of health information. Significant correlations between the intensity of corona-related information seeking, risk perception, and actual risk behavior were found.
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spelling pubmed-78737362021-02-11 Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany Schäfer, Markus Stark, Birgit Werner, Antonia M. Tibubos, Ana Nanette Reichel, Jennifer L. Pfirrmann, Daniel Edelmann, Dennis Heller, Sebastian Mülder, Lina Marie Rigotti, Thomas Letzel, Stephan Dietz, Pavel Front Public Health Public Health Health information-seeking behavior is the process of gathering information about health and disease and can be influential for health-related perception and behavior. University students are an important target group for prevention and health promotion and largely belong to an age group that is considered to play a leading role in propagating the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Germany. The paper deals with students' health information-seeking behavior before and during the corona crisis, aiming to give insights into its determinants and implications. Using the example of a large German comprehensive university and based on two cross-sectional surveys in the summer of 2019 (n = 4,351) and 2020 (n = 3,066), we investigate which information channels students use for health information, how information seeking changes during the course of the pandemic, and to what extent information seeking is associated with risk perception and risk behavior. For a subsample of participants that participated in both surveys (n = 443), we also trace developments at the individual level through a longitudinal analysis. The results show that students' health information seeking takes place primarily online and changed markedly during the corona crisis. The comparatively high relevance of sources that are largely based on unchecked user-generated content raises the concern whether students' health information-seeking behavior guarantees the necessary quality and reliability of health information. Significant correlations between the intensity of corona-related information seeking, risk perception, and actual risk behavior were found. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7873736/ /pubmed/33585388 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.616603 Text en Copyright © 2021 Schäfer, Stark, Werner, Tibubos, Reichel, Pfirrmann, Edelmann, Heller, Mülder, Rigotti, Letzel and Dietz. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Schäfer, Markus
Stark, Birgit
Werner, Antonia M.
Tibubos, Ana Nanette
Reichel, Jennifer L.
Pfirrmann, Daniel
Edelmann, Dennis
Heller, Sebastian
Mülder, Lina Marie
Rigotti, Thomas
Letzel, Stephan
Dietz, Pavel
Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title_full Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title_fullStr Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title_full_unstemmed Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title_short Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany
title_sort health information seeking among university students before and during the corona crisis—findings from germany
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7873736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33585388
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.616603
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