TY  - JOUR
A1  - Holzmann-Littig, Christopher
A1  - Stadler, David
A1  - Popp, Maria
A1  - Kranke, Peter
A1  - Fichtner, Falk
A1  - Schmaderer, Christoph
A1  - Renders, Lutz
A1  - Braunisch, Matthias Christoph
A1  - Assali, Tarek
A1  - Platen, Louise
A1  - Wijnen-Meijer, Marjo
A1  - Lühnen, Julia
A1  - Steckelberg, Anke
A1  - Pfadenhauer, Lisa
A1  - Haller, Bernhard
A1  - Fuetterer, Cornelia
A1  - Seeber, Christian
A1  - Schaaf, Christian
T1  - Locating medical information during an infodemic: information seeking behavior and strategies of health-care workers in Germany
JF  - Healthcare
N2  - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a flood of — often contradictory — evidence. HCWs had to develop strategies to locate information that supported their work. We investigated the information-seeking of different HCW groups in Germany. Methods: In December 2020, we conducted online surveys on COVID-19 information sources, strategies, assigned trustworthiness, and barriers — and in February 2021, on COVID-19 vaccination information sources. Results were analyzed descriptively; group comparisons were performed using χ\(^2\)-tests. Results: For general COVID-19-related medical information (413 participants), non-physicians most often selected official websites (57%), TV (57%), and e-mail/newsletters (46%) as preferred information sources — physicians chose official websites (63%), e-mail/newsletters (56%), and professional journals (55%). Non-physician HCWs used Facebook/YouTube more frequently. The main barriers were insufficient time and access issues. Non-physicians chose abstracts (66%), videos (45%), and webinars (40%) as preferred information strategy; physicians: overviews with algorithms (66%), abstracts (62%), webinars (48%). Information seeking on COVID-19 vaccination (2700 participants) was quite similar, however, with newspapers being more often used by non-physicians (63%) vs. physician HCWs (70%). Conclusion: Non-physician HCWs more often consulted public information sources. Employers/institutions should ensure the supply of professional, targeted COVID-19 information for different HCW groups.
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - infodemic
KW  - health-care workers
KW  - HCW
KW  - information strategies
KW  - emergency information
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-319306
SN  - 2227-9032
VL  - 11
IS  - 11
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Holzmann-Littig, Christopher
A1  - Frank, Tamara
A1  - Schmaderer, Christoph
A1  - Braunisch, Matthias C.
A1  - Renders, Lutz
A1  - Kranke, Peter
A1  - Popp, Maria
A1  - Seeber, Christian
A1  - Fichtner, Falk
A1  - Littig, Bianca
A1  - Carbajo-Lozoya, Javier
A1  - Meerpohl, Joerg J.
A1  - Haller, Bernhard
A1  - Allwang, Christine
T1  - COVID-19 Vaccines: Fear of side effects among German health care workers
JF  - Vaccines
N2  - (1) Background: Health care workers (HCWs) play a key role in increasing anti-COVID vaccination rates. Fear of potential side effects is one of the main reasons for vaccine hesitancy. We investigated which side effects are of concern to HCWs and how these are associated with vaccine hesitancy. (2) Methods: Data were collected in an online survey in February 2021 among HCWs from across Germany with 4500 included participants. Free-text comments on previously experienced vaccination side effects, and fear of short- and long-term side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination were categorized and analyzed. (3) Results: Most feared short-term side effects were vaccination reactions, allergic reactions, and limitations in daily life. Most feared long-term side effects were (auto-) immune reactions, neurological side effects, and currently unknown long-term consequences. Concerns about serious vaccination side effects were associated with vaccination refusal. There was a clear association between refusal of COVID-19 vaccination in one's personal environment and fear of side effects. (4) Conclusions: Transparent information about vaccine side effects is needed, especially for HCW. Especially when the participants' acquaintances advised against vaccination, they were significantly more likely to fear side effects. Thus, further education of HCW is necessary to achieve good information transfer in clusters as well.
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - vaccine hesitancy
KW  - health care workers
KW  - side-effects
KW  - fears
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-270561
SN  - 2076-393X
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -