Mental Health and Coping Strategies of Health Communicators Who Faced Online Abuse During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Study.

IF 3.5 Q1 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES
JMIR infodemiology Pub Date : 2025-04-02 DOI:10.2196/68483
Lisa Wight, Chris Tenove, Saima Hirani, Heidi Tworek
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts used social media platforms to share information and advocate for policies. Many of them faced online abuse, which some reported took a toll on their mental health and well-being. Variation in the impacts of online abuse on mental health, well-being, and professional efficacy suggest that health communicators may differ in their coping strategies and ultimately their resilience to such abuse.

Objective: We aimed to explore the impacts of online abuse on health communicators' mental health and well-being as well as their emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies.

Methods: We recruited health communicators (public health officials, medical practitioners, and university-based researchers) in Canada who engaged in professional online communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. In phase 1, semistructured interviews were conducted with 35 health communicators. In phase 2, online questionnaires were completed by 34 individuals before participating in workshops. Purposive recruitment resulted in significant inclusion of those who self-identified as racialized or women. Interview and workshop data were subjected to inductive and deductive coding techniques to generate themes. Descriptive statistics were calculated for selected questionnaire questions.

Results: In total, 94% (33/35) of interviewees and 82% (28/34) of questionnaire respondents reported experiencing online abuse during the study period (2020-2022). Most health communicators mentioned facing an emotional and psychological toll, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. Racialized and women health communicators faced abuse that emphasized their ethnicity, gender identity, and physical appearance. Health communicators' most common emotion-focused coping strategies were withdrawing from social media platforms, avoiding social media platforms altogether, and accepting online abuse as unavoidable. Common problem-focused coping strategies included blocking or unfriending hostile accounts, changing online behavior, formal help-seeking, and seeking peer support. Due to the impacts of online abuse on participants' mental health and well-being, 41% (14/34) of the questionnaire respondents seriously contemplated quitting health communication, while 53% (18/34) reduced or suspended their online presence. Our findings suggest that health communicators who used problem-focused coping strategies were more likely to remain active online, demonstrating significant professional resilience.

Conclusions: Although health communicators in our study implemented various emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies, they still faced challenges in dealing with the impacts of online abuse. Our findings reveal the limitations of individual coping strategies, suggesting the need for effective formal organizational policies to support those who receive online abuse and to sanction those who perpetrate it. Organizational policies could improve long-term outcomes for health communicators' mental health and well-being by mitigating online abuse and supporting its targets. Such policies would bolster professional resilience, ensuring that important health information can still reach the public and is not silenced by online abuse. More research is needed to determine whether gender, race, or other factors shape coping strategies and their effectiveness.

COVID-19大流行期间面临网络虐待的健康传播者的心理健康和应对策略:混合方法研究
背景:在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间,卫生专家利用社交媒体平台分享信息并倡导政策。他们中的许多人都面临着网络虐待,一些人报告说,这对他们的心理健康和幸福造成了损害。网络虐待对心理健康、福祉和职业效能的不同影响表明,健康传播者在应对策略和最终对此类虐待的适应能力方面可能存在差异。目的:探讨网络虐待对健康传播者心理健康和幸福感的影响,以及他们以情绪和问题为中心的应对策略。方法:我们在加拿大招募了在COVID-19大流行期间从事专业在线交流的健康传播者(公共卫生官员、医生和大学研究人员)。在第一阶段,对35名健康传播者进行了半结构化访谈。在第二阶段,34个人在参加研讨会之前完成了在线问卷调查。有目的的招募导致那些自我认定为种族化或女性的人被大量纳入。访谈和工作坊数据采用归纳和演绎编码技术生成主题。对选定的问卷问题进行描述性统计。结果:总体而言,94%(33/35)的受访者和82%(28/34)的受访者表示在研究期间(2020-2022年)经历过网络虐待。大多数健康传播者提到面临情绪和心理上的损失,包括抑郁和焦虑的症状。种族化和妇女健康传播者面临着强调其种族、性别认同和外貌的虐待。健康传播者最常见的以情绪为中心的应对策略是退出社交媒体平台,完全避开社交媒体平台,接受不可避免的网络虐待。常见的以问题为中心的应对策略包括屏蔽或解除敌意账户的好友关系、改变在线行为、正式寻求帮助以及寻求同伴支持。由于网络滥用对参与者心理健康和福祉的影响,41%(14/34)的受访者认真考虑放弃健康交流,53%(18/34)的受访者减少或暂停上网。我们的研究结果表明,使用以问题为中心的应对策略的健康传播者更有可能在网上保持活跃,表现出显著的专业弹性。结论:尽管健康传播者在我们的研究中实施了各种以情绪和问题为中心的应对策略,但他们在处理网络虐待的影响方面仍然面临挑战。我们的研究结果揭示了个人应对策略的局限性,表明需要有效的正式组织政策来支持那些受到网络虐待的人,并制裁那些施暴者。组织政策可以通过减少网络虐待和支持其目标,改善健康传播者心理健康和福祉的长期成果。这样的政策将增强专业的复原力,确保重要的健康信息仍然能够传达给公众,而不会因网络虐待而沉默。需要更多的研究来确定性别、种族或其他因素是否会影响应对策略及其有效性。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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