Online cancer information seeking and colorectal cancer screening in China: Considering threat and coping Appraisals, and cancer fatalism.

Background: Colorectal cancer is major public health concern in China. This study seeks to explore the role of online cancer information seeking in influencing colorectal cancer screening, by taking into account one's coping appraisals (i.e., self-efficacy, response efficacy), threat appraisals (i.e., perceived severity, cancer worry) and cancer fatalism. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 730 participants in China recruited from a Chinese survey company's online panels. Path analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between the key constructs. Results: First, online cancer information seeking increased both coping appraisals and threat appraisals. Second, threat appraisal did not significantly influence cancer fatalism, but coping appraisal reduced cancer fatalism. Third, cancer fatalism had no effects on colorectal cancer screening. Lastly, online cancer information also had a direct and positive relationship with cancer screening. Conclusions: This research emphasises the need for health organisations to offer timely cancer information to people, and educate them about the importance of cancer screening. Health authorities may also regulate online cancer information to ensure that the information is accurate and appropriate in improving people's cancer prevention and cancer screening knowledge.

Descriptive Norms and eHealth Use Among Older Adults: A Cross-Country Comparative Study.

eHealth use enables older adults to access and manage healthcare resources, and benefits their health; however, older adults' uptake of eHealth remains low across societies. Social influences such as descriptive norms may be of critical importance in promoting the elderly's usage of eHealth. Based on the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction, this study investigates how descriptive norms relate to eHealth use among the elderly in China and the United States. Analysis of the combined sample (N = 1,070) showed that descriptive norms were positively related to eHealth use. Also, descriptive norms were indirectly associated with eHealth use via injunctive norms, attitudes and self-efficacy. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that these direct and indirect relationships differed across the two countries. This study highlights the important role of descriptive norms in promoting older adults' eHealth use behavior and addresses potential country differences in how the elderly respond to descriptive norms. Several important theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The bright and dark sides of social media use during COVID-19 lockdown: Contrasting social media effects through social liability vs. social support.

There exist ongoing discussions regarding whether, when, or why heightened reliance on social media becomes benefits or drawbacks, especially in times of crisis. Using the concepts of social liability, social support, and cognitive appraisal theory, this study examines distinct theoretical pathways through which the relational use of social media has contrasting impacts on cognitive appraisals of and emotional responses to the COVID-19 lockdown. We collected online survey data from 494 social media users in the U.S. during the COVID-19 lockdown. The results based on structural equation modeling (SEM) showed double-edged social media effects. When social media use results in perceived social support, it has a favorable impact on coping appraisals of the COVID-19 lockdown. This, in turn, is associated with lower levels of negative affective responses, such as anger, anxiety, and loneliness. In contrast, when social media use results in increased social liability (i.e., obligation to provide support to others), it negatively impacts cognitive appraisals and affective responses. The study makes significant contributions by unpacking two distinct theoretical mechanisms underlying social media effects: particularly social liability which has been underexplored but was found to be an essential concept to explain the dualistic impact of social media.

Social Media Communication about HPV Vaccine in China: A Study Using Topic Modeling and Survey.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is relatively novel to people in China. Social media is becoming an important channel for learning new health information. However, limited is known about what HPV vaccine information has been disseminated on social media, and how such online information is associated with health-related behaviors in China. Based on Longo et al.'s model of patient use of healthcare information for healthcare decision, and Longo's model of health information seeking behaviors, this study examined HPV vaccine-related information type and information acquisition pattern. Following the mixed-methods approach, we first crawled 67,773 postings about HPV vaccine on Weibo, the largest microblogging website in China, and performed topic modeling to identify HPV vaccine-related topics that are prevalent on Weibo. The results showed six major topics about HPV vaccine, namely policy, guidance information, advertising, scandals, personal experience sharing, and HPV risks. Second, we conducted an online survey (n = 1,982) to investigate how scanning, seeking, and discussing the six HPV vaccine topics identified from big data analytics can affect HPV vaccine knowledge, safety concern, and vaccination intention. We documented significant impacts of social media health communication on users' health knowledge, attitude and behavioral intention.

Social Media Health Promotion and Audience Engagement: The Roles of Information Dissemination, Organization-Audience Interaction, and Action Confidence Building.

Social media have become an important platform for health promotion. Based on the Information-Community-Action Framework, we conducted a content analysis of 1,481 Facebook postings by Singapore's Health Promotion Board. Results showed that organizational information and health benefit information dissemination were positively associated with online audience engagement. Also, organization-audience interaction had a positive relationship with online audience engagement. In addition, messages that help build confidence for health behavior change increased online audience engagement. In addition to these main effects, organization-audience interaction also played a moderating role that strengthened the effects of information dissemination and action confidence building on online audience engagement. This study offers important theoretical contributions to the Information-Community-Action Framework and has practical implications for enhancing the effectiveness of health promotion in this digital era.

The Effects of Social Media Information Discussion, Perceived Information Overload and Patient Empowerment in Influencing HPV Knowledge.

Social media is becoming a viable channel to seek health information. However, the effects of social media on health knowledge have been inconsistent in the existing literature. Drawn upon the cognitive mediation model, this study examined the motivations influencing social media use for human papillomavirus (HPV) information and explored the underlying pathways linking social media use to HPV knowledge. With two-wave online surveys conducted in China, we found that three motivations of social media use, namely surveillance, anticipated interaction, and guidance, were positively associated with information discussion on social media, which increased perceived information overload that was negatively related to knowledge. In addition, patient empowerment positively moderated the effects of motivations on information discussion.

The Effect of Social Media on Stress among Young Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic: Taking into Account Fatalism and Social Media Exhaustion.

Social media has been widely used as an important source of health information, particularly during public health crises. However, findings regarding social media's impact on young adults' mental health are mixed. There is a need to identify social mechanisms underlying the effect of social media on mental health outcomes. Our study breaks new ground by proposing and testing a moderated mediation pathway from social media use to stress in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a two-wave online panel survey in the context of China. With a general basis of the Street's three-stage model, our results indicated that social media failed to directly affect young adults' stress. Instead, fatalism completely mediated this relationship. Also, one's perceived social media exhaustion negatively moderated this mediation pathway. The findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for the use of social media to promote health, well-being, and quality of life among young people during public health crises.