TY  - JOUR
AU  - Guan, Huixin
AU  - Wang, Wei
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/4/17
TI  - Factors Impacting Chinese Older Adults’ Intention to Prevent COVID-19 in the Post–COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Survey Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e53608
VL  - 8
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - SARS-CoV-2
KW  - health protection
KW  - social capital
KW  - media exposure
KW  - negative emotions
KW  - structural influence model of communication
KW  - SIM
KW  - protect
KW  - protection
KW  - protective
KW  - intent
KW  - intention
KW  - prevention
KW  - preventative
KW  - restriction
KW  - restrictions
KW  - public health measures
KW  - safety
KW  - news
KW  - newspaper
KW  - media
KW  - radio
KW  - health communication
KW  - influence
KW  - influencing
KW  - infectious
KW  - infection control
KW  - pandemic
KW  - gerontology
KW  - geriatric
KW  - geriatrics
KW  - older adult
KW  - older adults
KW  - older person
KW  - older people
KW  - aging
AB  - Background: Understanding the factors influencing individuals’ health decisions is a dynamic research question. Particularly, after China announced the deregulation of the COVID-19 epidemic, health risks escalated rapidly. The convergence of “no longer controlled” viruses and the infodemic has created a distinctive social period during which multiple factors may have influenced people’s decision-making. Among these factors, the precautionary intentions of older individuals, as a susceptible health group, deserve special attention. Objective: This study aims to examine the intention of older adults to engage in preventive behaviors and the influencing factors, including social, media, and individual factors, within the context of the postepidemic era. Drawing upon the structural influence model of communication, this study tests the potential mediating roles of 3 different types of media exposure between cognitive and structural social capital and protective behavior intention, as well as the moderating role of negative emotions between social capital and media exposure. Methods: In this study, a web survey was used to collect self-reported quantitative data on social capital, media exposure, negative emotions, and the intention to prevent COVID-19 among older adults aged ≥60 years (N=399) in China. Results: The results indicate that cognitive social capital significantly influenced protective behavior intention (P<.001), with cell phone exposure playing an additional impactful role (P<.001). By contrast, newspaper and radio exposure and television exposure mediated the influence of structural social capital on protective behavior intention (P<.001). Furthermore, negative emotions played a moderating role in the relationship between cognitive social capital and cell phone exposure (P<.001). Conclusions: This study suggests that using tailored communication strategies across various media channels can effectively raise health awareness among older adults dealing with major pandemics in China, considering their diverse social capital characteristics and emotional states. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2024/1/e53608
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/53608
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38630517
DO  - 10.2196/53608
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/53608
ER  -