The COVID-19 pandemic and seeking information about condoms online: an infodemiology approach
Author(s)
Date Issued
2023
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Journal
ISSN
0887-0446
1476-8321
Citation
Psychology & Health, 2023, vol. 38(9), pp. 1128-1147.
Type
Peer Reviewed Journal Article
Abstract
Objectives: As condoms are effective tools for pathogen-avoidance in sexual intercourse, seeking information about condoms online may be a reactive response to the COVID-19 according to the behavioral immune system theory.
Design: Taking an infodemiology perspective, this research employed multilevel analyses to examine how COVID-19 online query data (i.e., Google topic search terms Coronavirus and COVID-19) and coronavirus epidemiological data (i.e., COVID-19 cases per million and case fatality rate) would predict condom information seeking behavior online (i.e., Google topic search term Condom) throughout the pandemic across American states (Study 1) and 102 countries/territories (Study 2), after accounting for death-thought accessibility (i.e., illness-related searches), interest in birth control (i.e., birth-control-related searches), COVID-19 control policy, stay at home behavior, season, religious holidays, yearly trends, autocorrelation, and contextual variables such as HIV prevalence rate and socioeconomic development indicators (GINI index, urbanization, etc.).
Results: When there were high levels of COVID-19 concerns in cyberspace in a given week, search volume for condoms increased from the previous week across American states and different countries/territories. By contrast, the effect of actual coronavirus threat was non-significant.
Conclusion: Seeking information about condoms online could be a reactive response to high levels of COVID-19 concerns across different populations.
Design: Taking an infodemiology perspective, this research employed multilevel analyses to examine how COVID-19 online query data (i.e., Google topic search terms Coronavirus and COVID-19) and coronavirus epidemiological data (i.e., COVID-19 cases per million and case fatality rate) would predict condom information seeking behavior online (i.e., Google topic search term Condom) throughout the pandemic across American states (Study 1) and 102 countries/territories (Study 2), after accounting for death-thought accessibility (i.e., illness-related searches), interest in birth control (i.e., birth-control-related searches), COVID-19 control policy, stay at home behavior, season, religious holidays, yearly trends, autocorrelation, and contextual variables such as HIV prevalence rate and socioeconomic development indicators (GINI index, urbanization, etc.).
Results: When there were high levels of COVID-19 concerns in cyberspace in a given week, search volume for condoms increased from the previous week across American states and different countries/territories. By contrast, the effect of actual coronavirus threat was non-significant.
Conclusion: Seeking information about condoms online could be a reactive response to high levels of COVID-19 concerns across different populations.
Loading...
Availability at HKSYU Library
