ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
The Relation Between Official WhatsApp-Distributed COVID-19 News Exposure and Psychological Symptoms: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04305574 (Getting it Right), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Getting it Right: Towards Responsible Social Media Use During a Pandemic
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the mental health symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2022Pooled it
- Doomscrolling and Secondary Traumatic Stress: Psychological Distress and Just World Belief as Potential Mediating Pathways.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Bibliometric Insights Into the Infodemic: Global Research Trends and Policy Responses: Quantitative Research.JMIR medical informatics · 2025Article
- Media consumption patterns and depressive and anxiety symptoms in the Chinese general population during the COVID-19 outbreak.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association between the COVID-19 infodemic and depression symptom screening in older adults.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Association Between COVID19 Vaccination Uptake and Socio-Demographic Characteristics Among Pregnant Women in Kenya.The East African health research journal · 2025Article
- Effects of COVID-19 Illness and Vaccination Infodemic Through Mobile Health, Social Media, and Electronic Media on the Attitudes of Caregivers and Health Care Providers in Pakistan: Qualitative Exploratory Study.JMIR infodemiology · 2024Article
- Doomscrolling: Prospective associations between daily COVID news exposure, internalizing symptoms, and substance use among sexual and gender minority individuals assigned female at birth.Psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity · 2024Article
- Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Negative Emotions in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Subjective Norms Associated with COVID-19 Vaccination among Pregnant Women in Kenya: An Online Cross-Sectional Pilot Study Using WhatsApp.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- The Impact of Information About COVID-19 on the Endocrine Stress System and Cognitive Distortions.Hormone and metabolic research = Hormon- und Stoffwechselforschung = Hormones et metabolisme · 2023Article
- It Is Not the Virus Exposure: Differentiating Job Demands and Resources That Account for Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Health Sector Workers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Latin American perceptions of fear and exaggeration transmitted by the media with regard to COVID-19: frequency and association with severe mental pathologies.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Predicting Psychological Symptoms When Facebook's Digital Well-being Features Are Used: Cross-sectional Survey Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- The Importance of Behavioral and Native Factors on COVID-19 Infection and Severity: Insights from a Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Article
- A Predictive Model of Pandemic Disaster Fear Caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19): Implications for Decision-Makers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Tracking Private WhatsApp Discourse About COVID-19 in Singapore: Longitudinal Infodemiology Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- One Year on: An Overview of Singapore's Response to COVID-19-What We Did, How We Fared, How We Can Move Forward.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Exposure to COVID-19-Related Information and its Association With Mental Health Problems in Thailand: Nationwide, Cross-sectional Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn a global pandemic, digital technology offers innovative methods to disseminate public health messages. As an example, the messenger app WhatsApp was adopted by both the World Health Organization and government agencies to provide updates on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). During a time when rumors and excessive news threaten psychological well-being, these services allow for rapid transmission of information and may boost resilience.
objectiveIn this study, we sought to accomplish the following: (1) assess well-being during the pandemic; (2) replicate prior findings linking exposure to COVID-19 news with psychological distress; and (3) examine whether subscription to an official WhatsApp channel can mitigate this risk.
methodsAcross 8 weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak (March 7 to April 21, 2020), we conducted a survey of 1145 adults in Singapore. As the primary outcome measure, participants completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). As predictor variables, participants also answered questions pertaining to the following: (1) their exposure to COVID-19 news; (2) their use of the Singapore government's WhatsApp channel; and (3) their demographics.
resultsWithin the sample, 7.9% of participants had severe or extremely severe symptoms on at least one DASS-21 subscale. Depression scores were associated with increased time spent receiving COVID-19 updates, whereas use of the official WhatsApp channel emerged as a protective factor (b=-0.07, t[863]=-2.04, P=.04). Similarly, increased anxiety scores were associated with increased exposure to both updates and rumors, but this risk was mitigated by trust in the government's WhatsApp messages (b=-0.05, t[863]=-2.13, P=.03). Finally, although stress symptoms increased with the amount of time spent receiving updates, these symptoms were not significantly related to WhatsApp use.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that messenger apps may be an effective medium for disseminating pandemic-related information, allowing official agencies to reach a broad sector of the population rapidly. In turn, this use may promote public well-being amid an "infodemic."
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04305574; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04305574.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.