Correlates of COVID-19 Information Overload and Information Seeking: Evidence from a Community Survey.

Purpose: To examine the relationships among health literacy, risk perceptions, COVID-19 information overload, health information seeking, and race/ethnicity.

Design: A cross-sectional non-probability community survey conducted between December 2020 and January 2021. A questionnaire was developed in collaboration with a local minority health task force.

Setting: Albany, New York, USA.

Sample: 331 adults residing in Albany, NY and neighboring areas (80.3% completion rate).

Measures: Multi-item scales were used to measure health literacy, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, information overload, and health information seeking frequency and types.

Analysis: We conducted multivariate regression analysis.

Results: Health literacy (standardized β = -.33, P < .001) and perceived severity (β = -.23, P < .001) were negatively associated with information overload. Information overload was negatively associated with health information seeking frequency (β = -.16, P < .05) and types (β = -.19, P < .01). A further analysis shows several factors, including information overload and race (African Americans), were negatively related to seeking specific types of information.

Conclusion: We find that low health literacy and perceived severity contribute to information overload and that information overload adversely affects health information seeking. Black individuals are less likely to search for certain types of information. The cross-sectional study design limits our ability to determine causality. Future research should employ panel data to determine the directionality of the observed relationships.