Associations between media use and health information-seeking behavior on vaccinations in South Korea.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100968562 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2458 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712458 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-

Health Behavior* ; Information Seeking Behavior*; Mass Media/*statistics & numerical data ; Vaccination/*statistics & numerical data; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Influenza Vaccines/administration & dosage ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea ; Social Class ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Background: Although vaccinations are critical for preventing emerging infectious diseases, scant research has been conducted on risk communication. With socio-economic characteristics, health behavior, and underlying diseases under control, we investigated associations between media use, health information-seeking behavior, health information type, and vaccination in the population.
Methods: This study relied on a national survey of Korean adults (n = 1367). Participants were adult males and females age 20 and older. Web and face-to-face surveys were conducted throughout July 2014. The main outcome was vaccination (categorized as yes or no). Independent variables were time spent on media, frequency of health information-seeking behavior, and types of health information sought.
Results: Controlling for co-variates, logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors that influence Korean adults being vaccinated. Results revealed that accessible information about emerging infectious diseases, listening to the radio, and reading the newspaper were associated with increased odds of being vaccinated. Active seeking health information as well as being female and of higher socio-economic status were positively correlated with Korean adults being vaccinated.
Conclusion: It is critical to promote health information-seeking behavior and use diverse media channels to increase acceptance and awareness of emerging infectious diseases and vaccinations. Because there are differences in vaccination awareness depending on social class, it is critical to reduce communication inequality, strengthen accessibility to vaccinations, and devise appropriate risk communication strategies that ensure Korean adults receive vaccinations.

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Keywords: Media use; Public health emergency preparedness; Seasonal flu; South Korea; Vaccination

0 (Influenza Vaccines)

Date Created: 20170913 Date Completed: 20180305 Latest Revision: 20240326

20240326

PMC5594607

10.1186/s12889-017-4721-x

28893212