Li Xiaoshan Austin, Hubbard Katharine, Hwang Jooyun
Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, Zhuhai, China.
Department of Mass Communication, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 15;13:1611711. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1611711. eCollection 2025.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
有效的公共卫生沟通依赖于了解个体在突发卫生事件期间如何获取信息。虽然此前的研究已调查了疫苗犹豫和接受情况，但对于集体主义社会中寻求新冠病毒加强针信息背后的心理和社会动机，人们所知甚少。
本研究扩展了风险信息寻求与处理（RISP）模型，以探讨对专家的信任、风险不确定性和主观信息规范对中国公众寻求新冠病毒加强针信息意图的影响。
对616名中国成年人开展了一项全国性调查。结构方程模型（SEM）检验了感知到的利弊、情感反应、信息不足、对他人专业知识的信任、不确定性、对行为的感知控制和社会规范之间的假设关系。
信息主观规范是寻求信息意图的最显著预测因素，表明集体主义期望对个体行为的影响。对专家的信任与感知到的风险呈正相关，与感知到的益处呈负相关，并减少了感知到的信息不足。不确定性增加了个体收集和解释信息的感知能力，但情感反应的直接影响有限。
研究结果凸显了将社会规范、信任关系和不确定性管理纳入公共卫生教育活动以支持疫苗推广的必要性。本研究为设计具有文化适应性的沟通干预措施提供了实证依据，这些措施可促进集体主义社会及类似环境中的加强针接种。
