Sources of COVID-19 Information Seeking and their Associations with Self-Perceived Mental Health among Canadians

Abstract

Using two datasets from the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS), this study provides a longitudinal analysis of information sources Canadians consulted regarding COVID-19 and their associations with poor self-perceived mental health (SPMH) during March and July 2020. Nearly 20% of Canadians who were surveyed reported poor SPMH. The logistic regression results revealed that at Time 2 (July 2020), after controlling for demographic, socio-economic, and psychobehavioural factors, using social media was significantly associated with higher odds of poor SPMH than using six other information sources including news outlets, federal health agencies, provincial health agencies, provincial daily announcements, places of employment, and other sources (for example, schools, colleges, universities). Checking the accuracy of online information more frequently was also associated with lower odds of poor SPMH

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