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The ballooning health misinformation on social media raises grave concerns. Drawing upon the S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) model and the information processing literature, this study aims to explore (1) how social media health information seeking (S) affects health misinformation sharing intention (R) through the channel of health misperceptions (O) and (2) whether the mediation process would be contingent upon different information processing predispositions.

Data were collected from a survey comprising 388 respondents from the Chinese middle-aged or above group, one of China's most susceptible populations to health misinformation. Standard multiple linear regression models and the PROCESS Macro were adopted to examine the direct effect and the moderated mediation model.

Results bolstered the S-O-R-based mechanism, in which health misperceptions mediated social media health information seeking's effect on health misinformation sharing intention. As an indicator of analytical information processing, need for cognition (NFC) failed to moderate the mediation process. Contrarily, faith in intuition (FI), an indicator reflecting intuitive information processing, served as a significant moderator. The positive association between social media health information seeking and misperceptions was stronger among respondents with low FI.

This study sheds light on health misinformation sharing research by bridging health information seeking, information internalization and information sharing. Moreover, the authors extended the S-O-R model by integrating information processing predispositions, which differs this study from previous literature and advances the extant understanding of how information processing styles work in the face of online health misinformation. The particular age group and the Chinese context further inform context-specific implications regarding online health misinformation regulation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0157.

Health-related issues are widely covered in news agencies by medical and health journalists. The quantity, format and quality of their coverage influence the general public as well as policymakers and professions. Current studies and observations suggest that news agencies are more dominated by medical topics (disease, symptoms, epidemiology, treatment and medicines) than general public health issues (risk prevention, health protection, education and promotion). This study explores the causes of the current situation in Iran and generates solutions for supporting health-promoting media that may also prove beneficial for other countries.

A qualitative study was conducted to explore the coverage of health-related topics in selected news agencies. Stakeholders, including health journalists, health professionals and public relations staff at the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education were interviewed. Data were collected until data saturation was reached. The transcripts of all the 17 interviews conducted were analyzed using conventional content analysis.

Four groups of causes were identified, including individual factors, organizational factors, socioeconomic factors and the different nature of medicine and public health. The participants proposed several solutions that were classified into three categories, including the empowerment of stakeholders through capacity development, organizational change and mutual communication and culture change.

Creating health-promoting media is a complex but urgent task, and providing a comprehensive and deep understanding of the dynamic interdependencies of the multiple factors at play in it and developing and implementing the most effective interventions for it requires a systematic approach.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness, evolution and dynamism of the current health communication media used in Ghana.

This paper uses a multi-method approach which utilizes a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In-depth interviews are conducted with health promotion professionals in Ghana and 150 members of the general public were surveyed.

The paper finds that the general public sees social media as an effective place for health professionals to share health-related messages. They also view health-related messages on social media seriously. Health professionals see social media as an effective tool for sending health-related messages to the public and are concerned about the fact that traditional media are losing their effectiveness as means to share health-related messages.

This study was conducted in Ghana. Future studies should be conducted across multiple countries to examine the conclusions developed in this paper and the possibility of multiple perspectives regarding the use of social media for sending health messages.

The results inform public health officials on developments in health communication and suggest prescriptions on how to adjust to the new media.

Health messaging is an area that has been relatively ignored in the literature and almost no research focusses on the effectiveness of social media and other health messaging technologies, particularly in developing countries. Although the study was conducted in Ghana, health professionals worldwide can use the findings to help improve their health messaging strategies.

To provide human judgment input for computer algorithm development, this study examines the relative importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting the truthfulness ratings of two common types of online health information: news stories and institutional news releases.

This study employed a multi-method approach using (1) a manual content analysis of 400 randomly selected online health news stories and news releases from HealthNewsReview.org and (2) an online experiment comparing truthfulness ratings between news stories and news releases.

Using content analysis, the authors found significant differences in the importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting truthfulness ratings of news stories and news releases: source and style cues predicted truthfulness ratings better than content cues. In the experiment, source credibility was the most important predictor of truthfulness ratings, controlling for individual differences. Experts have higher ratings for news media stories than news releases and lay people have no differences in rating the two news formats.

It is important for health educators to curb consumer trust in misinformation and increase health information literacy. Rather than solely reporting scientific evidence, educators should focus on addressing cues people use to judge the truthfulness of health information.

This is the first study that directly compares human judgments of health news stories and news releases. Using both the breadth of content analysis and experimental causality testing, the authors evaluate the relative importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting truthfulness ratings.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of platform characteristics (i.e. media richness and interactivity) on individual perception (i.e. outcome expectations) and consequent behavioral response (i.e. user participation in online health communities (OHCs)) based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model.

This study developed a research model to test the proposed hypotheses, and the proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for which data were collected from 321 users with OHC experience using an online survey.

The empirical results show the following: (1) the three dimensions of media richness significantly affect the three outcome expectations, except that richness of expression has no significant effect on the outcome expectation of health self-management competence. (2) Human-to-human interaction significantly affects the three outcome expectations. Moreover, compared with human-to-human interaction, human-to-system interaction has a stronger impact on the outcome expectation of health self-management competence. (3) The three outcome expectations have a significant influence on user participation in OHCs.

This study extends the understanding about how platform characteristics (i.e. media richness and interactivity) motivate user participation in the context of OHCs. Drawing on the S-O-R model, this study reveals the underlying mechanisms by which media richness and interactivity are associated with outcome expectations and by which outcome expectations is associated with user participation in OHCs. This study enriches the literature on media richness, interactivity, outcome expectations and user participation in OHCs, providing insights for developers and administrators of OHCs.

The proliferation of health misinformation on social media has increasingly engaged scholarly interest. This research examines the determinants influencing users’ proactive correction of health misinformation, a crucial strategy in combatting health misbeliefs. Grounded in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this research investigates how factors including issue involvement, information literacy and active social media use impact health misinformation recognition and intention to correct it.

A total of 413 social media users finished a national online questionnaire. SPSS 26.0, AMOS 21.0 and PROCESS Macro 4.1 were used to address the research hypotheses and questions.

Results indicated that issue involvement and information literacy both contribute to health misinformation correction intention (HMCI), while misinformation recognition acts as a mediator between information literacy and HMCI. Moreover, active social media use moderated the influence of information literacy on HMCI.

This study not only extends the ELM into the research domain of correcting health misinformation on social media but also enriches the perspective of individual fact-checking intention research by incorporating dimensions of users’ motivation, capability and behavioral patterns.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2023-0505

Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the potential predictors and consequences of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Using a sample of 230 international students studying at Wuhan University and Beijing Language and Cultural University, China, this study employs structural equation modeling to analyze the collected data.

The results indicate that personal factors such as lack of health information literacy, environmental factors, information overload and social media peer influence have a significant effect on behavior, namely social media health-misinformation seeking behavior, which further influences outcomes, namely social media users' anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, both lack of health information literacy and social media peer influence have significant and direct effects on social media users' anxiety. However, the direct effect of information overload on social media users' anxiety is insignificant.

First, this study contributes to the literature on the individuals' social media health-misinformation seeking behavior, its precursors and its consequences, specifically on their mental healthcare during a pandemic situation. Second, this research is one of the pioneer studies that extend social cognitive theory to the context of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior and users' anxiety relationship.

This chapter explores social media and athlete mental health and well-being from a sociological perspective. The chapter provides an overview of current literature and encourages future research to address the mental health and well-being impacts of social media use among athletes.

The chapter synthesizes existing literature focusing on sociological approaches to mental health, social media's impact on mental health, and athlete mental health and well-being. Focus is given to the ways social media can impact athlete mental health and well-being through virtual maltreatment and using the platforms for social change and challenging stigmatization.

Virtual maltreatment typically manifests in the intersectionality between gender, race, and sexual orientation adding to mental health challenges of vulnerable groups. Conversely, athletes could help challenge stigmatization of mental health and use their status to create social change among social groups experiencing higher rates of mental health challenges.

The chapter reveals that sociological perspectives around athlete mental health and well-being related to social media are growing, yet predominately concentrate on publicly available social media content. Therefore, more concentrated efforts are needed to fully understand these impacts in the short and long-term.

The chapter provides one of the first insights on social media and athlete mental health and well-being from a sociological perspective and argues that athletes contend with unique stressors compared to the general population which can exacerbate mental health challenges. The chapter advances that more research is needed to inform practice and help safeguard vulnerable populations of athletes.

This study aims to elucidate the dynamics of social media discourse during global health events, specifically investigating how users across different platforms perceive, react to and engage with information concerning such crises.

A mixed-method approach was employed, combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection. Initially, thematic analysis was applied to a data set of social media posts across four major platforms over a 12-month period. This was followed by sentiment analysis to discern the predominant emotions embedded within these communications. Statistical tools were used to validate findings, ensuring robustness in the results.

The results showcased discernible thematic and emotional disparities across platforms. While some platforms leaned toward factual information dissemination, others were rife with user sentiments, anecdotes and personal experiences. Overall, a global sense of concern was evident, but the ways in which this concern manifested varied significantly between platforms.

The primary limitation is the potential non-representativeness of the sample, as only four major social media platforms were considered. Future studies might expand the scope to include emerging platforms or non-English language platforms. Additionally, the rapidly evolving nature of social media discourse implies that findings might be time-bound, necessitating periodic follow-up studies.

Understanding the nature of discourse on various platforms can guide health organizations, policymakers and communicators in tailoring their messages. Recognizing where factual information is required, versus where sentiment and personal stories resonate, can enhance the efficacy of public health communication strategies.

The study underscores the societal reliance on social media for information during crises. Recognizing the different ways in which communities engage with, and are influenced by, platform-specific discourse can help in fostering a more informed and empathetic society, better equipped to handle global challenges.

This research is among the first to offer a comprehensive, cross-platform analysis of social media discourse during a global health event. By comparing user engagement across platforms, it provides unique insights into the multifaceted nature of public sentiment and information dissemination during crises.