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Cited by 418Health Literacy and Information AccessibilityCommunication and COVID-19 ImpactMisinformation and Its Impacts

Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany.

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Okan, Orkan, Bollweg, Torsten Michael, Berens, Eva-Maria, Hurrelmann, Klaus, Bauer, Ullrich, Schaeffer, Doris·2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
DOI 10.3390/ijerph17155503PMC PMC7432052
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Abstract

There is an “infodemic” associated with the COVID-19 pandemic—an overabundance of valid and invalid information. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information, making it crucial for navigating coronavirus and COVID-19 information environments. A cross-sectional representative study of participants ≥ 16 years in Germany was conducted using an online survey. A coronavirus-related health literacy measure was developed (HLS-COVID-Q22). Internal consistency was very high (α = 0.940; ρ = 0.891) and construct validity suggests a sufficient model fit, making HLS-COVID-Q22 a feasible tool for assessing coronavirus-related health literacy in population surveys. While 49.9% of our sample had sufficient levels of coronavirus-related health literacy, 50.1% had “problematic” (15.2%) or “inadequate” (34.9%) levels. Although the overall level of health literacy is high, a vast number of participants report difficulties dealing with coronavirus and COVID-19 information. The participants felt well informed about coronavirus, but 47.8% reported having difficulties judging whether they could trust media information on COVID-19. Confusion about coronavirus information was significantly higher among those who had lower health literacy. This calls for targeted public information campaigns and promotion of population-based health literacy for better navigation of information environments during the infodemic, identification of disinformation, and decision-making based on reliable and trustworthy information.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Okan, O., Bollweg, T. M., Berens, E.-M., Hurrelmann, K., Bauer, U., & Schaeffer, D.
Affiliations
  • Bielefeld University (DE)
  • Hertie School (DE)
Corresponding author
Okan, Orkan
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-07-30
Volume
17
Issue
15
Pages
5503
ISSN
1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/ijerph17155503
PMC
PMC7432052
OpenAlex
W3046072662
Cited by
418
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 88 · 2022: 120 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 18
FWCI
76.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • OPUS 4 (Zuse Institute Berlin) (submittedVersion)
  • PUB – Publications at Bielefeld University (Bielefeld University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01EL1824A)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
Keywords
COVID-19 infodemic, health literacy assessment, media trust, disinformation, information campaigns, Germany
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Coronavirus Infections, Young Adult, Health Literacy, Pandemics

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