Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40766024›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2025

Understanding COVID-19 booster information seeking in a collectivist context: the roles of social expectations, trust in experts, and uncertainty.

Xiaoshan Austin Li, Katharine Hubbard, Jooyun Hwang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Xiaoshan Austin LiDepartment of Communication, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, Zhuhai, China.
Katharine HubbardDepartment of Mass Communication, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, United States.
Jooyun HwangDepartment of Journalism, Public Relations, and Advertising, Soongsil University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Effective public health communication relies on understanding how individuals seek information during health emergencies. While previous work has investigated vaccine hesitancy and acceptance, little is known regarding the psychological and social motivations behind COVID-19 booster information-seeking in collectivist societies. Objective: This study extends the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model to explore the impact of trust in experts, risk uncertainty, and subjective informational norms on the public's intention to seek information regarding COVID-19 booster shots in China. Methods: A national survey of 616 adults in China was undertaken. Structural equation modeling (SEM) examined hypothesized relationships among perceived advantages and disadvantages, affective responses, lack of information, trust in the expertise of others, uncertainty, perceived control over behavior, and social norms. Results: Informational subjective norms were the most significant predictor of intentions to seek information, indicating the influence of collectivist expectations on individual action. Trust in experts was positively associated with perceived risks and inversely related to perceived benefits-and decreased perceived information insufficiency. Uncertainty increased individuals' perceived ability to gather and interpret information, but affective responses had limited direct effects. Conclusion: Findings highlight the need to incorporate social norms, trust relationships, and uncertainty management into public health education campaigns to support vaccine promotion. This study offers empirical evidence for designing culturally adaptive communication interventions that promote booster uptake among collectivist societies and comparable environments.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 VaccinesInformation Seeking BehaviorTrustAdolescentAdultChinaFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSARS-CoV-2Social NormsSurveys and QuestionnairesUncertaintyYoung AdultCOVID-19 VaccinesCOVID-19 boosterhealth communicationrisk information seekingsubjective normstrust in expertsuncertainty

Identifiers

PMID40766024
PMCPMC12323738

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.