Bottom-up actions: Examining perceived influence of pandemic news, information relevance, perceived media credibility, and pro-community participation.

Objective: When hyper-infectious diseases sweep over the world, pro-community participation has been found to effectively curb the spread of viruses. This study explores the associations among media-related perceptions and media users' pro-community participation during the peak of the 2022 COVID-19 outbreaks in China. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 976 Chinese media users in April 2022 to collect data on their pro-community participation and perceptions of pandemic news influence, information relevance, and credibility of traditional media and social media. Hierarchical regression analyses were run to analyze the associations between these perceptual variables and pro-community participation. Results: The findings revealed that information relevance was positively associated with perceived news influence on oneself and pro-community participation. Perceived credibility of traditional media was positively associated with perceived news influence on both oneself and others. Perceived credibility of social media was positively associated with perceived news influence on others. Additionally, perceived credibility of traditional media positively moderated the association between information relevance and perceived news influence on others. Conclusions: Information relevance and perceived media credibility play significant roles in shaping media user' perceptions of news influence and their subsequent pro-community behaviors. Higher perceived media credibility can produce a broader impact on perceived news influence on both media users themselves and others, highlighting its importance in public health communication strategies. These insights can inform media practices and public health policies to enhance community participation during public health crises.

The Effect of Information Exposure on Stigma Toward the COVID-19 Patient Mediated by Perceived Risk, Attribution of Blame and Protection Norm Conformity.

This study employed the model of stigma communication (MSC) to analyze how exposure to COVID-19-related information affected stigma-related information sharing about people who contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic and examined the cognitive process of the MSC in a collectivist culture. Based on a survey of 526 social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the study found that exposure to contact tracing information and pandemic control information had different impact on stigma-related information sharing through a series of cognitive variables. A dual-path model showed that perceived personal risk influenced stigma-related information sharing through attribution of blame toward the infected (the personal path), while perceived social risk influenced stigma-related information sharing through protection norm conformity (the social path). Compared to the personal path, the social path is more salient in shaping stigmatized attitudes and behaviors. The findings and discussions added to our understanding of the intricate stigma communication process in a collectivist culture.