Wight Lisa, Tenove Chris, Hirani Saima, Tworek Heidi
Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
JMIR Infodemiology. 2025 Apr 2;5:e68483. doi: 10.2196/68483.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
在新冠疫情期间，健康专家利用社交媒体平台分享信息并倡导相关政策。他们中的许多人遭到了网络辱骂，一些人报告称这对他们的心理健康和幸福造成了影响。网络辱骂对心理健康、幸福和职业效能的影响存在差异，这表明健康传播者在应对策略以及最终对这种辱骂的恢复力方面可能存在不同。
我们旨在探讨网络辱骂对健康传播者心理健康和幸福的影响，以及他们以情绪为中心和以问题为中心的应对策略。
我们招募了加拿大在新冠疫情期间进行专业网络交流的健康传播者（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人在参加工作坊之前完成了在线问卷。有针对性的招募使得大量自我认定为少数族裔或女性的人被纳入研究。访谈和工作坊数据采用归纳和演绎编码技术以生成主题。对选定的问卷问题进行了描述性统计。
在研究期间（2020 - 2022年），总计94%（33/35）的受访者和82%（28/34）的问卷受访者报告称遭受过网络辱骂。大多数健康传播者提到面临情绪和心理上的影响，包括抑郁和焦虑症状。少数族裔和女性健康传播者面临的辱骂强调了他们的种族、性别认同和外貌。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以及将网络辱骂视为不可避免而接受。常见的以问题为中心的应对策略包括屏蔽或拉黑敌对账号、改变网络行为、寻求正式帮助以及寻求同伴支持。由于网络辱骂对参与者心理健康和幸福的影响，41%（14/34）的问卷受访者认真考虑过放弃健康传播工作，而53%（18/34）的人减少或暂停了他们的网络活动。我们的研究结果表明，采用以问题为中心应对策略的健康传播者更有可能继续活跃在网络上，展现出显著的职业恢复力。
尽管我们研究中的健康传播者实施了各种以情绪为中心和以问题为中心的应对策略，但他们在应对网络辱骂的影响方面仍面临挑战。我们的研究结果揭示了个体应对策略的局限性，表明需要有效的正式组织政策来支持那些遭受网络辱骂的人，并制裁实施辱骂者。组织政策可以通过减轻网络辱骂并支持受害者来改善健康传播者心理健康和幸福的长期结果。这样的政策将增强职业恢复力，确保重要的健康信息仍能传达给公众，不会因网络辱骂而被压制。需要更多研究来确定性别、种族或其他因素是否会影响应对策略及其有效性。
