Pathways of front-line healthcare professionals’ information anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study in China

Exploring information anxiety is critical to protecting the mental health of front-line healthcare professionals. Their information anxiety is impacted by interrelated conditions during public health emergencies, but existing studies have not confirmed the impact of the combination of conditions and clarified the pathways of information anxiety. Twenty-four healthcare professionals were recruited for semi-structured interviews. Qualitative Comparative Analysis was used to analyze necessary conditions and pathways of information anxiety. The results showed that information, environment, personal, and content were identified as antecedent conditions, and information quantity anxiety, information quality anxiety, and information content anxiety were identified as outcome conditions. Furthermore, information quality and social environment were necessary conditions. Spontaneous and extrinsic information anxiety were found based on pathways. Identifying conditions and pathways was essential for understanding the information anxiety of front-line healthcare professionals and providing evidence for medical institutions to take target measures in future public health emergencies.