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Health information that is acquired through information scanning has been shown to play an important role in shaping individual beliefs and health behavior. This study examines the direct and indirect effects of the breadth of scanning from media and interpersonal sources about two risk behaviors (nonmedical use of amphetamines and marijuana) on subsequent drug use behavior through changes to perceived norms. We test effects of scanning using a longitudinal online survey design with data collected at six-month intervals over three time points among 800 Israeli undergraduate students in their freshman year. Of the 800 respondents who participated in the first wave, 62.4% completed the second wave (

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a unique information seeking and sharing context for billions of Internet users across the globe. Although previous research has established that people often seek health information on the Internet, including through social media platforms, there was a political element to pandemic responses that is not typical of health issues such as seasonal influenza or heart conditions. This unique context, in conjunction with the public posting of the novel coronavirus DNA by Chinese scientists in January 2020, begs for analysis of how people used social media in the early phase of the pandemic to make sense of the role of genetics in COVID-19. This study represents such an analysis as a qualitative content analysis of Facebook posts concerning genetics and COVID-19. Data were collected from March through August of 2020 to identify how genetics issues were being shared on Facebook and the types of accounts that were sharing that information. Through analysis, four themes emerged representing Facebook posts about genetics and COVID-19: disease risk, testing, vaccines, and virus characteristics. These posts appeared on eight types of accounts, with five of those representing 88% of the data: education, health, lifestyle, news, and political. Results are interpreted with constructs from media dependency theory and implications for future research are presented.

This study uses a three-wave prospective longitudinal survey (at 6-month intervals) to test effects of information seeking and scanning on attitudes toward marijuana among college students in Israel (N = 700). We integrate constructs from the elaboration likelihood model to contrast processes of attitude change among individuals who vary in moderators of information processing depth (motivation and ability). In addition, we test whether trust in the information source moderates these processes, and use propensity score matching to reduce bias. Results of autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models show that scanning from interpersonal sources predicted attitudes toward marijuana among individuals who were low in elaboration motivation or ability. Seeking and scanning information about marijuana from interpersonal sources were positively associated with attitudes toward marijuana among individuals higher in elaboration motivation and ability, who had greater trust in the source. Implications for information processing models, seeking and scanning, and campaigns are discussed.

Understanding local public attitudes toward receiving vaccines is vital to successful vaccine campaigns. Social media platforms may help uncover vaccine sentiments during infectious disease outbreaks at the local level, and whether offline local events support vaccine-promotion efforts. Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) served as a guiding framework for this case study of the San Diego region examining local public sentiment toward vaccines expressed on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed a sentiment analysis (including positivity and subjectivity) of 187,349 tweets gathered from May 2020 to March 2021, and examined how sentiment corresponded with local vaccine deployment. The months of November and December (52.9%) 2020 saw a majority of tweets expressing positive sentiment and coincided with announcements of offline local events signaling San Diego’s imminent deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. Across all months, tweets remained mostly objective (never falling below 63%). In terms of CIT, considering multiple levels of the Story Telling Network in online spaces, and examining sentiment about vaccines on Twitter may help scholars to explore the Communication Action Context, as well as cultivate positive community attitudes to improve the Field of Health Action regarding vaccines. Real-time analysis of local tweets during development and deployment of new vaccines may help monitor local public responses and guide promotion of immunizations in communities.

College students play a major role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the viral agent responsible for COVID-19. We aim to understand risk perceptions, self-efficacy, and adoption of prevention behaviors in this population to inform prevention strategies.Undergraduate students attending a large public university.A convenience sample of students were surveyed (April-June 2020). Participants self-reported risk perceptions, perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, self-efficacy, and prevention behavior engagement.A total of 1,449 students were included in the analysis. The majority were women (71.2%) and aged 18-24 (86.6%). Freshmen had the lowest risk and threat perceptions, as did men; men also had lower self-efficacy. Women engaged significantly more in prevention behaviors compared to men.Perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 was low, but overall adoption of prevention behaviors was high due to local mandates. Freshmen men were identified as having the greatest need for changing perceptions and behaviors.

Objectives. To examine how and what information is communicated via social media during an infectious disease outbreak. Methods. In the context of the 2016 through 2018 hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County, California, we used a grounded theory–based thematic analysis that employed qualitative and quantitative approaches to uncover themes in a sample of public tweets (n = 744) from Twitter, a primary platform used by key stakeholders to communicate to the public during the outbreak. Results. Tweets contained both general and hepatitis A–specific information related to the outbreak, restatements of policy and comments critical of government responses to the outbreak, information with the potential to shape risk perceptions, and expressions of concern regarding individuals experiencing homelessness and their role in spreading hepatitis A. We also identified misinformation and common channels of content driving themes that emerged in our sample. Conclusions. Public health professionals may identify real-time public risk perceptions and concerns via social media during an outbreak and target responses that fulfill the informational needs of those who seek direction and reassurance during times of uncertainty.

Prior theoretical models of information seeking have examined its role, primarily, as a determinant of recommended behaviors. In this study, we develop and test the "behavior and risk information engagement" (BRIE) model, which accounts for the reciprocal effects of information seeking from interpersonal and media sources on two risk behaviors - nonmedical marijuana and amphetamine use. We test the model among young Israeli adults (N = 800) using a three-wave prospective observational study (at 6-month intervals). Autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models showed good fit. Information seeking from interpersonal sources at baseline predicted amphetamine use and marijuana use at 6 months. In both models, seeking drug-related information from interpersonal sources at baseline was also a predictor of seeking information from media sources at 6 months. Information seeking from media sources at 6 months was also a significant predictor of amphetamine use at 12 months. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This chapter offers a critical review of research on misinformation and social networking sites (SNSs). Using keywords related to misinformation and SNSs, this review examines relevant scholarship published since 2004. Content of relevant articles is summarized in terms of examined contexts, involved disciplines (e.g., public health, communication), methodological approaches, use of theory, and solutions presently offered for addressing this important problem. Disinformation and fake news are also included in the scope of this review. Current trends in research on misinformation and SNSs will be discussed. Results of this review suggest that misinformation on SNSs represents an issue facing many fields without a clear or easy solution. Four recommendations are derived from the present review: (1) performance of additional research on platforms other than Facebook or Twitter; (2) clarification of conceptualizations of misinformation and increased consistency in usage of terms; (3) greater integration of theory for enhancing understanding of how misinformation spreads and how to best correct misinformation once it proliferates on SNSs; and (4) promotion of interdisciplinary collaborations among researches investigating misinformation and SNSs. Directions for future research are also provided.

To illuminate understanding of how social media can be leveraged to glean insights into public health issues such as e-cigarette use, we use a social media analytics and research testbed (SMART) dashboard to observe Twitter messages and follow content about e-cigarettes in different cities across the U.S. Our case studies indicate that the majority of e-cigarette tweets are positive (68%), which represents a potential problem for public health. Stigma plays the most important roles in both confirmed and rejected messages for e-cigarettes. We also noticed that some advocates of e-cigarettes might be hybrid human-bot accounts (or multiple users using one account). Our key findings demonstrate the use of the SMART dashboard as a means of public health-related belief surveillance, and identification of campaign targets and informational needs of different communities in real-time. Future uses of this tool include monitoring social messages about e-cigarettes for combating the spread of tobacco-related misinformation and disinformation, and detecting and targeting informational needs of communities for intervention.

The “Me Too” movement, founded by activist Tarana Burke, began in 2006, before Twitter became the viral platform for political activism and news media that it is known for today. The reemergence of the Me Too movement on Twitter in 2017 sparked a widespread focus on the societal issue of sexual misconduct. This study examines sexual assault disclosures as an aspect of such misconduct through the context of the Me Too movement on Twitter. Through the use of content analysis, online disclosures of sexual assault ( N = 1,459) are examined for variations of sexual explicitness and attainment of social functions per the functional theory of self-disclosure. Specifically, this study explores associations between Twitter network structure and (1) levels of sexual explicitness and (2) retweet count. Through manual coding and statistical analysis, the study finds associations between sexual explicitness of online disclosures and retweet count as well as associations between network structure and sexual explicitness of disclosures. The study shifts the focus of disclosure discourse from dyadic communication to the contemporary context of networked social media. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, which include, but are not limited to, the exploration of associations between disclosing and catharsis, disclosing that may be characterized as neutral or conflicted, and disclosing sexual assault without being sexually explicit.

There is an increasing amount of drug-related information that is easily accessible from media and interpersonal sources. Recent research shows significant positive associations between information acquisition and nonmedical drug use intentions among college students. This study examines information about amphetamines and marijuana that was actively searched ("seeking") as well as information that was encountered during routine media use ("scanning"). Data are drawn from a cross-national comparative survey of college students in the United States (N = 734) and in Israel (N = 800). U.S. participants reported seeking and scanning information about marijuana across a broader range of sources than Israeli participants. Among U.S. and Israeli participants, the most frequently searched marijuana-related topics included the benefits of marijuana, negative effects of marijuana use, and political reasons why marijuana should be legal. Participants from both countries reported the benefits of amphetamines, and the negative effects of amphetamine use as the most frequently searched topics about amphetamines. Participants in both countries identified the internet and friends as the most popular sources of drug-related information and noted that physicians, friends, and the internet were the most trusted sources. Implications for research on information seeking and health communication are discussed.

Health information is readily available and easily obtained from a variety of media and interpersonal sources. Although several studies have examined health-related information seeking, a comprehen...

Background There is still an HIV epidemic in the United States, which is a substantial issue for populations bearing a disproportionate burden of HIV infections. Daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has proven to be safe and effective in reducing HIV acquisition risk. However, studies document that PrEP awareness/usage is low. There is also limited understanding of social media platforms, such as Instagram, as PrEP information sources. Objective Given the paucity of research on PrEP-related Instagram posts and popularity of this social media platform, the purpose of this research is to describe the source characteristics, image types, and textual contents of PrEP-related posts on Instagram. Methods Using Crowdtangle Search, a public insights tool owned/operated by Facebook, we retrieved publicly accessible and English-language-only Instagram posts for the 12-month period preceding April 22, 2020, using the following terms: Truvada or “pre-exposure prophylaxis” or #truvada or #truvadaprep or #truvadawhore or #truvadaforprep. We employed a qualitative coding methodology to manually extract information from posts. Using a pretested codebook, we performed content analysis on 250 posts, examining message and source characteristics (ie, organization type [eg, government, news] and individual type [eg, physician]), including information about PrEP (eg, how it works, cost), and indicated users. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for all categorical variables. A Chi-square test was conducted to determine differences between source types on a variety of message characteristics. Results Three-quarters of the posts (193/250, 77.2%) were posted by organizations. Of the 250 posts reviewed, approximately two-thirds (174/250, 69.6%) included a photograph, more than half (142/250, 56.8%) included an infographic, and approximately one-tenth (30/250, 12%) included a video. More than half defined PrEP (137/250, 54.8%), but fewer posts promoted PrEP use, explained how PrEP works, and included information on the effectiveness of PrEP or who can use it. The most commonly hashtagged populations among posts were men who have sex with men (MSM), but not necessarily bisexual men. Few posts contained race-/ethnicity-related hashtags (11/250, 4.4%). Fewer posts contained transgender-associated tags (eg, #transgirl; 5/250, 2%). No posts contained tags related to heterosexuals or injection drug users. We found statistical differences between source types (ie, individual versus organization). Specifically, posts from organizations more frequently contained information about who can use PrEP, whereas posts from individuals more frequently contained information describing adverse effects. Conclusions This study is among the first to review Instagram for PrEP-related content, and it answers the National AIDS Strategy’s call for a clearer articulation of the science surrounding HIV risk/prevention through better understanding of the current public information environment. This study offers a snapshot of how PrEP is being discussed (and by whom) on one of the most popular social media platforms and provides a foundation for developing and implementing PrEP promotion interventions on Instagram.

The article presents a narrative review of scholarship on social support through social networking sites (SNSs) published from 2004 to 2015. By searching keywords related to social support and SNSs in major databases for social sciences, we identified and content analyzed directly relevant articles (N = 88). The article summarizes the prevalence of theory usage; the function of theory usage (e.g., testing a theory, developing a theory); major theories referenced; and methodologies, including research designs, measurement, and the roles of social support and SNS examined in this literature. It also reports four themes identified across the studies, indicating the trends in the current research. Based on the review, the article presents a discussion about study sites, conceptualization of social support, theoretical coherence, the role of social networks, and the dynamic relationships between SNS use and social support, which points out potential avenues for shaping a future research agenda.

The current study examined conversations on Twitter related to use and perceptions of e-cigarettes in the United States. We employed the Social Media Analytic and Research Testbed (SMART) dashboard, which was used to identify and download (via a public API) e-cigarette-related geocoded tweets. E-cigarette-related tweets were collected continuously using customized geo-targeted Twitter APIs. A total of 193,051 tweets were collected between October 2015 and February 2016. Of these tweets, a random sample of 973 geocoded tweets were selected and manually coded for information regarding source, context, and message characteristics. Our findings reveal that although over half of tweets were positive, a sizeable portion was negative or neutral. We also found that, among those tweets mentioning a stigma of e-cigarettes, most confirmed that a stigma does exist. Conversely, among tweets mentioning the harmfulness of e-cigarettes, most denied that e-cigarettes were a health hazard. These results suggest that current efforts have left the public with ambiguity regarding the potential dangers of e-cigarettes. Consequently, it is critical to communicate the public health stance on this issue to inform the public and provide counterarguments to the positive sentiments presently dominating conversations about e-cigarettes on social media. The lack of awareness and need to voice a public health position on e-cigarettes represents a vital opportunity to continue winning gains for tobacco control and prevention efforts through health communication interventions targeting e-cigarettes.

The current study uses a grounded theory approach to explore dimensions and bi-national comparisons of active information seeking efforts (seeking) for and passive information acquisition (scanning) of drug-related information among two college student samples from the United States (N = 25) and Israel (N = 39). Specifically, the study focuses on seeking and scanning related to amphetamines and marijuana, two frequently used drugs among college populations, about which information is easily accessible. Results of semi-structured interviews suggest that information scanning and seeking about marijuana and amphetamines are common, particularly from peers and from the Internet. The analysis uncovers themes relating to young adults’ drug-related, information-seeking behaviors, including cross-source information acquisition across interpersonal and media sources, and motivations for engaging in active efforts to seek drug-related information. These findings extend research on information seeking and scanning a...

This study investigates the impact of seeking information about the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test on men’s PSA test use during a period of conflicting recommendations. Analyses used longitudinal survey data collected in 2005 and 2006 from a nationally representative sample of U.S. males aged 40–70 years (n = 777). Cross-sectionally, nonmedical information seeking was significantly associated with increased odds of having a PSA test in the past year (Time 1 odds ratio [OR] = 9.74, p

Previous research suggests positive effects of health information seeking on prevention behaviors such as diet, exercise, and fruit and vegetable consumption. The present study builds upon this research and strengthens causal claims from it by examining the lagged effect of patient-clinician information engagement on fruit and vegetable consumption as well as the indirect effect on the outcome through seeking information from nonmedical channels. The results are based on data collected from a randomly drawn sample of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry who completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006 and 2007. There was a 65% response rate for baseline subjects (resulting n = 2,013); of those, 1,293 were interviewed 1 year later, and 1,257 were available for our analyses. Results show a positive lagged main effect of patient-clinician information engagement at baseline on fruit and vegetable consumption at follow-up (B = 0.26, SE = 0.10, p = .01). The mediation analysis shows that patient-clinician information engagement leads to increased fruit and vegetable consumption among cancer patients, in part through patients' information seeking from nonmedical channels. Implications of these findings for the cancer patient population and for physicians are discussed.

Several studies have recently applied sentiment-based lexicons to Twitter to gauge local sentiment to understand health behaviors and outcomes for local areas. While this research has demonstrated the vast potential of this approach, lingering questions remain regarding the validity of Twitter mining and surveillance in local health research. First, how well does this approach predict health outcomes at very local scales, such as neighborhoods? Second, how robust are the findings garnered from sentiment signals when accounting for spatial effects? To evaluate these questions, we link 2,076,025 tweets from 66,219 distinct users in the city of San Diego over the period of 2014-12-06 to 2017-05-24 to the 500 Cities Project data and 2010–2014 American Community Survey data. We determine how well sentiment predicts self-rated mental health, sleep quality, and heart disease at a census tract level, controlling for neighborhood characteristics and spatial autocorrelation. We find that sentiment is related to some outcomes on its own, but these relationships are not present when controlling for other neighborhood factors. Evaluating our encoding strategy more closely, we discuss the limitations of existing measures of neighborhood sentiment, calling for more attention to how race/ethnicity and socio-economic status play into inferences drawn from such measures.

This study reports results from a large population-based survey of U.S. adults showing perceived behavioral control (PBC) moderations of associations between (a) attitude and intention and (b) perceived norms and intention to engage in 6 health behaviors. Results are based on data collected from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults ages 40–70 (N = 2,489) and extend understanding of how behavioral theory can be used to guide the design and evaluation of health communication campaigns. Ordinary least squares regression analyses show evidence of a significant positive PBC moderation of (a) attitude and intention and (b) perceived norms and intention such that attitude or perceived norms toward the behavior is more strongly associated with behavioral intention among participants reporting higher levels of PBC. Implications for message design and the evaluation of communication campaigns are discussed.

Objective Examine how patient–clinician information engagement (PCIE) may operate through feeling informed to influence patients’ treatment decision satisfaction (TDS). Methods Randomly drawn sample ( N = 2013) from Pennsylvania Cancer Registry, comprised of breast, prostate and colon cancer patients completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006 (response rate = 64%) and Fall of 2007. Of 2013 baseline respondents, 85% agreed to participate in follow-up survey ( N = 1703). Of those who agreed, 76% ( N = 1293) completed follow-up surveys. The sample was split between males and females. The majority of participants were White, over the age of 50, married, and with a high school degree. Most reported having been diagnosed with in situ and local cancer. Results PCIE was related to concurrent TDS ( β = .06) and feeling informed ( β = .15), after confounder adjustments. A mediation analysis was consistent with PCIE affecting TDS through feeling informed. Baseline PCIE predicted feeling informed ( β = .04) measured 1 year later, after adjustments for baseline feeling informed and other confounders. Feeling informed was related to concurrent TDS ( β = .35) after confounder adjustment and follow-up TDS ( β = .13) after baseline TDS and confounder adjustment. Conclusion Results suggest PCIE affects TDS in part through patients’ feeling informed. Practice implications PCIE may be important in determining patients’ level of feeling informed and TDS.

This study addresses the question of whether having a broad social network of close friends equips cancer patients with increased efficacy to engage in communication about their cancer, which then leads to an increased likelihood of patients’ actively seeking cancer-related information. Guided by the theory of motivated information management (TMIM: Afifi & Weiner, 2006), the study also tests whether the effect of the number of close social ties on information seeking is mediated, in part, by communication efficacy. Results are based on data collected from a randomly drawn sample from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry of 2,013 cancer patients who completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006. Results are consistent with a cross-sectional mediation effect in which the number of close social ties in one’s social network is positively associated with communication efficacy (b = .17, p = .001), which, in turn, is positively associated with cancer-related information seeking (b = .13, p < .001).

This study tests a moderated-mediation model to explain the joint effects of consideration of future consequences and exposure to health messages containing an anticipated regret component on behavioral intention to consume folic acid. In an online survey-experiment conducted in March 2011, 245 women 18-35 years of age were randomized to 1 of 3 conditions (exposure to attitude-only message/exposure to attitude-plus-anticipated-regret message/no message exposure) in a between-participants design. Results showed a positive joint effect of consideration of future consequences and exposure to an attitude-plus-anticipated-regret message on anticipated regret (B = 0.89, SE = 0.41, p

The amount of cancer-related information available to the general population continues to grow; yet, its effects are unclear. This study extends previous cross-sectional research establishing that cancer information seeking across a variety of sources is extensive and positively associated with engaging in health-related behaviors. The authors studied how active information seeking about cancer prevention influenced three healthy lifestyle behaviors using a 2-round nationally representative sample of adults ages 40-70 years (n = 1,795), using propensity scoring to control for potential confounders including baseline behavior. The adjusted odds of dieting at follow-up were 1.51 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.19) times higher for those who reported baseline seeking from media and interpersonal sources relative to nonseekers. Baseline seekers ate 0.59 (95% CI: 0.28, 0.91) more fruits and vegetable servings per day and exercised 0.36 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.60) more days per week at 1-year follow-up compared with nonseekers. The effects of seeking from media and friends/family on eating fruits and vegetables and exercising were independent of seeking from physicians. The authors offer several explanations for why information seeking predicts healthy lifestyle behaviors: information obtained motivates these behaviors; information sought teaches specific techniques; and the act of information seeking may reinforce a psychological commitment to dieting, eating fruits and vegetables, and exercising.

Session: QoS, Query Processing, Optimization (full paper); International audience; This paper concerns the integration of the Case Based Reasoning (CBR) paradigm in query processing, providing a way to optimize queries when there is no prior knowledge on queried data sources and certainly no related metadata such as data statistics. Our Query Optimization by Learning (QOL) approach optimizes queries using cases generated from the evaluation of similar past queries. A query case comprises: (i) the query, (ii) the query plan and (iii) the measures (computational resources consumed) of the query plan. The work also concerns the way the CBR process interacts with the query plan generation process. This process uses classical heuristics and makes decisions randomly (e.g. when there is no statistics for join ordering and selection of algorithms, routing protocols); It also (re)uses cases (existing query plans) for similar queries parts, improving the query optimization and evaluation efficiency.

This study investigated the impact of exposure to prescription drug advertisements for antidepressants and antianxiety medications on public opinion regarding preferred treatment options for youth suffering from depression or anxiety. The study randomly recruited a nationally representative adult sample (N = 402) through the 2007 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey. The study examined the distribution of public support for the use of antidepressant drugs to treat depression and anxiety disorders in youth. The analysis adjusted for the effects of demographic characteristics, prior knowledge about prescription drugs, and personal and familial drug history. Attitude toward direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA, for all products) moderated the effect of exposure to ads for these drug treatments on support for their use among youth as a preferred treatment. Among respondents with negative attitude toward direct-to-consumer advertising (for all products), with increased exposure to ads for antidepressants and antianxiety medications, support for the use of these drugs to treat youth decreased. Among this group, with high levels of exposure to advertisements, the predicted probability of support decreased from 0.68 (95% CI: 0.61 to 0.76) to 0.46 (95% CI: 0.38 to 0.56). No effect was found among respondents with positive attitudes toward DTCA (for all products). The implications of the findings are discussed.