Factors Influencing the Accessibility and Reliability of Health Information in the Face of the COVID-19 Outbreak—A Study in Rural China

Introduction: Rural residents have been shown to have limited access to reliable health information and therefore may be at higher risks for the adverse health effects of the COVID-19. The aim of this research is 2-fold: (1) to explore the impacts of demographic factors on the accessibility of health information; and (2) to assess the impacts of information channels on the reliability of health information accessed by rural residents in China during the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: Mixed methods research was performed to provide a relatively complete picture about the accessibility and reliability of health information in rural China in the face of the COVID-19. A quantitative research was conducted through surveying 435 Chinese rural residents and a qualitative study was performed through collecting materials from one of the most popular social media application (WeChat) in China. The logistic regression techniques were used to examine the impacts of demographic factors on the accessibility of health information. The Content analysis was performed to describe and summarize qualitative materials to inform the impacts of information channels on the reliability of health information.Results: Age was found to positively associate with the accessibility of health information, while an opposite association was found between education and the accessibility of health information. Rural residents with monthly income between 3,001 CNY and 4,000 CNY were the least likely to access health information. Rural residents who worked/studied from home were more likely to access health information. Meanwhile, health information tended to be derived from non-official social media channels where rumors and unverified health information spread fast, and the elderly and less-educated rural residents were more likely to access health misinformation.Conclusions: Policy makers are suggested to adopt efficient measures to contain the spread of rumors and unverified health information on non-official social media platforms during the outbreak of a pandemic. More efforts should be devoted to assist the elderly and less-educated rural residents to access reliable health information in the face of a pandemic outbreak.

TV versus Internet: How media consumption affects the approval of the authorities

The article considers the features of the Russians media consumption and their attitudes to political institutions (federal and regional). The survey of the population of the Republic of Mordovia aimed at finding correlations between the use of certain information channels, the level of trust in them, and the approval of the authorities. The study showed that the choice of traditional media (television, newspapers, magazines, radio) or new media (social networks, Internet websites, telegram channels) divides people into groups according to their political preferences. Traditional media (conditionally the TV party) tend to unite representatives of older cohorts living in rural areas and supporting the government. New media (conditionally the Internet party) tend to attract mainly young people living in cities, having a relatively high level of education and being critical of political institutions. The author believes that there is a potential for reconciliation of these two parties - in the communicative possibilities of personal connections (friends, relatives, acquaintances), because the close social circle seems to provide grounds for discussing the current situation in the country and the region. The results of the survey show a high level of distrust to all information channels and a low level of approval of the authorities. The situation is aggravated by the coronavirus crisis: skepticism about official information determined a significant number of rumors discrediting political institutions, which in the future may negatively affect election campaigns at all levels.

Marketing strategies for functional food products

Functional foods are experiencing a growing demand worldwide as consumers seek ways to take control of their health. Despite this growing demand, the lack of a standard definition for functional food for formal categorization and regulation results in many functional food products run into hurdles for consumer acceptance, as many people are not familiar with the concept, and scientific evidence that could increase legitimacy of these products is not widely available. Of the 15 steps the Functional Food Center has outlined for development of functional food products, marketing a product to educate people is closely related to consumer acceptance and is therefore an important step to study to increase success of functional food products. This review article will focus on recent studies that examine carrier/ingredient combinations, information channels, credibility, and consumer targeting and how they can impact consumer intent to purchase or accept functional foods. These studies build off hypotheses tested in pre-existing studies or bring in novel determinants to consider. Finally, advice on marketing based on the results in the included papers and from an industry expert will be discussed.Keywords: Functional Food Marketing, Carrier/Ingredient Combinations, Perceived Fit, Information Channels, Credibility, Consumer Targeting, Advertising, Consumer Acceptance, Purchase Intent

Marketing strategies for functional food products

Functional foods are experiencing a growing demand worldwide as consumers seek ways to take control of their health. Despite this growing demand, the lack of a standard definition for functional food for formal categorization and regulation results in many functional food products run into hurdles for consumer acceptance, as many people are not familiar with the concept, and scientific evidence that could increase legitimacy of these products is not widely available. Of the 15 steps the Functional Food Center has outlined for development of functional food products, marketing a product to educate people is closely related to consumer acceptance and is therefore an important step to study to increase success of functional food products. This review article will focus on recent studies that examine carrier/ingredient combinations, information channels, credibility, and consumer targeting and how they can impact consumer intent to purchase or accept functional foods. These studies build off hypotheses tested in pre-existing studies or bring in novel determinants to consider. Finally, advice on marketing based on the results in the included papers and from an industry expert will be discussed.Keywords: Functional Food Marketing, Carrier/Ingredient Combinations, Perceived Fit, Information Channels, Credibility, Consumer Targeting, Advertising, Consumer Acceptance, Purchase Intent

Concerns about Wearing Masks to Avoid COVID-19 Infection in China: Assessment of an Internet-based Cross-sectional Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has the potential to spread from person to person in close contact settings. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released a handbook on COVID-19 in the context of disseminating health information among the public, specifically related to wearing masks correctly and adopting preventive measures to avoid the COVID-19 infection. OBJECTIVE The current study aimed to assess the level of mask knowledge, behavior related to mask usage, and major information channels in China. METHODS An Internet-based survey was conducted primarily using the DingXiang Doctor WeChat public accounts, and there were 10,304 respondents to the survey. The data about mask knowledge and behavior were recollected and analyzed. RESULTS The findings revealed that 64.49% of the participants practiced protective mask behavior, 97.93% believed that wearing masks is effective against COVID-19, 96.85% chose the mask that has two of more layers of washable, breathable fabric, 70.57% wore masks correctly, and 51.62% changed masks within four hours. Gender, age, occupation, and education level had significant effects on behavior, while marital and infection status of family members were not significant. There were ten major information channels, such as WeChat public account (89.55%), news applications (55.78%), WeChat (50.12%), television/radio (45.05%), microblogs (44.24%), friends/relatives/colleagues (27.84%), websites (25.99%), SMS (17.29%), community outreach (16.58%), and newspapers (7.53%). CONCLUSIONS This study elucidated that the Chinese netizens’ protective mask behavior was far lower than mask knowledge. Improved information channels and adequate information on wearing masks are necessary to improve the public’s protective mask behavior, particularly among the males, elderly, and people with less education.

Information Hiding Model Based on Channel Construction of Orthogonal Basis

Secret information communication model based on channel construction of orthogonal basis can implement secret information hiding and recovery without a key. The orthogonal basis is constructed by the media carrier's self-correlation. Carrier and secret information channels are constructed independently. And it has good properties of avoiding detection. The experiments show that the model with proper carrier components and threshold of secret information coding has the capacity of secret information and robustness. And the secret information capacity and anti-noise capability can be improved by compressed and error correcting or checking codes.

Accountability of the media as seen by Spanish citizens

This article analyses the opinions of citizens on the core values of the so-called Media accountability: truthfulness, independence, transparency, public participation and respect for peoples’ rights. It also analyses citizens’ perceptions of various deontological instruments to measure the effectiveness of compliance with these ethical values. The qualitative methodology used to carry out this analysis is part of the R+D+I research project “Accountability and Journalistic Cultures project in Spain. Impact and proposal of good practices in the Spanish media” (MediaACES), which has been achieved through six focus groups in different Spanish cities. The results of the analysis reflect the critical spirit of citizens towards the media due to the following factors: the absence of objectivity, the mixture of economic interests with their editorial line and an ambiguous participation of the public, which requires a better definition of their role within the information process. The conclusions derived from this analysis allow us to reflect on several aspects: among others, the competition in a deregulated market leads to infotainment and affects the quality of information, as well as the rights of people affected by the news. At the same time, the excess of information channels leads to greater disinformation, under the appearance of a spontaneous pluralism that is superfluous. Ethics, therefore, seems to be a necessary requirement to differentiate professional journalism from other inappropriate information channels and to guarantee the right to information of citizens.