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Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Jan 14; 10(1)V

Abstract

Vaccination is the most effective way to control the COVID-19 pandemic, but vaccination hesitancy threatens this effort worldwide. Consequently, there is a need to understand what influences individuals' intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Restriction of information gathering on societal developments to social media may influence attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination through exposure to disinformation and imbalanced arguments. The present study examined the association between problematic social media use and intention to get the COVID-19 vaccine, taking into account the mediating roles of cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception. In a cross-sectional survey study, a total of 10,843 residents of Qazvin City, Iran completed measures on problematic social media use, fear of COVID-19, cyberchondria, COVID-19 risk perception, and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that there was no direct association between problematic social media use and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Nonetheless, cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception (each or serially) mediated associations between problematic social media use and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. These results add to the understanding of the role of problematic social media use in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, i.e., it is not the quantity of social media use per se that matters. This knowledge of the mediating roles of cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception can be used by public health experts and policymakers when planning educational interventions and other initiatives in COVID-19 vaccination programs.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Ahorsu DK
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom 999077, Hong Kong.
Lin CY
Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
Alimoradi Z
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin 3419759811, Iran.
Griffiths MD
Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK.
Chen HP
Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, E-DA Hospital, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan. School of Medicine, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan.
Broström A
Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, 553 33 Jönköping, Sweden.
Timpka T
Department of Health, Medicine, and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
Pakpour AH
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin 3419759811, Iran. Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, 553 33 Jönköping, Sweden.

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

35062783

Citation

Ahorsu, Daniel Kwasi, et al. "Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association Between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine." Vaccines, vol. 10, no. 1, 2022.
Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Alimoradi Z, et al. Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. Vaccines (Basel). 2022;10(1).
Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C. Y., Alimoradi, Z., Griffiths, M. D., Chen, H. P., Broström, A., Timpka, T., & Pakpour, A. H. (2022). Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. Vaccines, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10010122
Ahorsu DK, et al. Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association Between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Jan 14;10(1) PubMed PMID: 35062783.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Cyberchondria, Fear of COVID-19, and Risk Perception Mediate the Association between Problematic Social Media Use and Intention to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. AU - Ahorsu,Daniel Kwasi, AU - Lin,Chung-Ying, AU - Alimoradi,Zainab, AU - Griffiths,Mark D, AU - Chen,Hsin-Pao, AU - Broström,Anders, AU - Timpka,Toomas, AU - Pakpour,Amir H, Y1 - 2022/01/14/ PY - 2021/12/05/received PY - 2022/01/05/revised PY - 2022/01/10/accepted PY - 2022/1/22/entrez PY - 2022/1/23/pubmed PY - 2022/1/23/medline KW - COVID-19 KW - cyberchondria KW - fear of COVID-19 KW - intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine KW - problematic social media use KW - risk perception KW - vaccination JF - Vaccines JO - Vaccines (Basel) VL - 10 IS - 1 N2 - Vaccination is the most effective way to control the COVID-19 pandemic, but vaccination hesitancy threatens this effort worldwide. Consequently, there is a need to understand what influences individuals' intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Restriction of information gathering on societal developments to social media may influence attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination through exposure to disinformation and imbalanced arguments. The present study examined the association between problematic social media use and intention to get the COVID-19 vaccine, taking into account the mediating roles of cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception. In a cross-sectional survey study, a total of 10,843 residents of Qazvin City, Iran completed measures on problematic social media use, fear of COVID-19, cyberchondria, COVID-19 risk perception, and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that there was no direct association between problematic social media use and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Nonetheless, cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception (each or serially) mediated associations between problematic social media use and intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. These results add to the understanding of the role of problematic social media use in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, i.e., it is not the quantity of social media use per se that matters. This knowledge of the mediating roles of cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, and COVID-19 risk perception can be used by public health experts and policymakers when planning educational interventions and other initiatives in COVID-19 vaccination programs. SN - 2076-393X UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/35062783/Cyberchondria_Fear_of_COVID_19_and_Risk_Perception_Mediate_the_Association_between_Problematic_Social_Media_Use_and_Intention_to_Get_a_COVID_19_Vaccine_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -
Grapherence [↓13 ↑41]

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