ArticleBMC public health2021
When in doubt, Google it: distress-related information seeking in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Analysis with Google Trends and Our World in Data on Global Mental Health in the Context of the covid-19 Pandemic].Revista colombiana de psiquiatria · 2023Article
- Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown and Its Evolution: A Case Study Based on Internet Searching Data during the Lockdown of Wuhan 2020 and Shanghai 2022.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Coronavirus disease 2019 information-seeking behavior globally: a systematic review.SAGE open medicine · 2023Review
- Google Trends for health research: Its advantages, application, methodological considerations, and limitations in psychiatric and mental health infodemiology.Frontiers in big data · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPsychological health has been one of the aspects affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to evaluate the patterns of Google search for mental distress symptoms of Italian citizens during the various phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsWe assessed Google searches for psychological-health related words. We gathered and analyzed data on daily search queries on depression, anxiety, and insomnia from Google Trends, in a time ranging from the Pre-COVID phase (beginning 25th January 2020) up to the second wave phase (ending 17th October 2020). We performed three general linear models on search trends of the three words and tested whether and to what extent official data about new cases of COVID-19, information searching on new cases, and the government health measures impacted on these trends.
resultsAverage daily search queries were higher for anxiety, followed by depression and insomnia. General linear models performed to assess differences in daily search queries for anxiety, depression and insomnia were significant, respectively [F(13, 253) = 6.80, P < .001]; [F(13, 253) = 10.25, P < .001]; [F(13, 253) = 6.61, P < .001]. Specifically, daily search queries differed among different phases of managing the COVID-19 outbreak: anxiety [F(5, 253) = 10.35, P < .001, [Formula: see text] = .17]; depression [F(5, 253) = 13.59, P < .001, [Formula: see text] = .21]; insomnia [F(5, 253) = 3.52, P = .004, [Formula: see text] = .07].
conclusionsOur study contributed to the investigation of online information-seeking behaviors of Italians regarding mental health throughout the entire phase of the pandemic and provides insights on the possible future trends of mental distress during upcoming pandemic phases.
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