Abstract
Objectives: The Internet has become one of the most common sources people use to search for health-related information, a behavior rapidly increased during the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present study aimed to investigate behavioral patterns in the online health-related searches and Cyberchondria (CYB) during the COVID-19 pandemic time, in order to explore socio-demographic and psychopathological factors related to CYB.Methods: During the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, a cross-sectional online survey collected the main socio-demographic variables and habits related to Internet use of 572 participants. CYB was measured by the Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short Version and different psychopathological factors were measured by specific questionnaires: the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, the Meta-Cognitions about Health Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test, the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire-Short Version, the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF. Descriptives, non-parametric ANOVAs, and Spearman correlations were performed.Results: In the present sample, the Internet was the main source participants used to search for health-related information and nearly one-third increased this habit during the pandemic. Higher expression of CYB emerged in females, in younger participants, in students, and in those suffering from a physical/psychiatric illness. CYB showed a positive correlation with different phenomenology of anxiety (i.e., anxiety about COVID-19, health anxiety, general anxiety, metacognitive believes about anxiety) and with depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and problematic usage of the Internet. Conversely, quality of life and self-esteem showed a negative correlation with CYB.Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the Internet for health-related information and CYB contribute to the psychological stress affecting individuals and society. Delineating subjects more vulnerable to CYB and associated psychopathological factors will help to elaborate operational indications for prevention and psychological support.
Highlights
Since its outbreak in December 2019, the current Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates and for considerable physical and psychological stress [1,2,3,4,5]
Psychopathological factors have been reported to play a role in the pandemic era, confirming that CYB was positively correlated with health anxiety, anxiety about COVID19, metacognitive believes about health anxiety, obsessivecompulsive symptoms, and problematic usage of the Internet
The present investigation can help to understand how the trend of accessing the Internet to seek health-related information typically increases during public health emergencies, what specific psychopathological factors may be associated with CYB, and the need to set up effective intervention in clinical settings in order to prevent this compulsive new digital behavior
Summary
Since its outbreak in December 2019, the current Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates and for considerable physical and psychological stress [1,2,3,4,5]. To cope with the current crisis, when it is difficult to access face-to-face health professionals counseling, it is quite natural for people to turn more frequently to the Internet in order to find COVID-19 health-related information, for example protective behaviors [15, 16]. Excessive searching of health information could potentially increase the level of stress, anxiety, and depression, as reported in other recent investigations [17, 18]. Considering the huge amount of health-related information available online, an increased risk of fake news and unverified information have been reported in the current pandemic era ( favored by the use of social media) [19, 20], with consequent amplification of one’s perceived risk, anxiety, and negative impact on well-being and quality of life [20,21,22,23]
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