JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Uncertainty is an integral component of communication science and health. However, whether (or not) and how to communicate uncertainty has lacked consensus in previous theoretical and empirical discussions. Given that mass media particularly online news website remains the primary source for the general public to obtain health information especially in times of public health emergencies, it is important to thoroughly understand whether the uncertainty presented in news articles influences individuals' cognitive and behavioral intentions during public health emergencies.

Objective:

We aimed to investigate the health-related cognitive and behavioral responses of the audience, as well as their behavioral responses to information management, concerning the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. And gain a better understanding of how uncertainty should be addressed by health communicators.

Methods:

A 2 (threat uncertainty: presence vs. absence) x 2 (solution uncertainty: presence vs. absence) full-fractional between-subject online experiment was conducted with a Chinese sample (N = 371). Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four pre-designed experimental Scenarios. They were asked to read an online news article about the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently respond to a questionnaire concerning perceived threat, uncertainty management, willingness to adopt protective measures, and the degree of belief in false news.

Results:

The results revealed that audiences were more susceptible to believing false health information when a certain threat and uncertain solution were framed in the news article (F(1, 367) = 5.10, p = .02, partial η2 = .01). Meanwhile, people's perceptions of risk and intentions to seek information also differed based on exposure to various uncertainty framing. Specifically, audiences who read news containing certain threat and uncertain solution (M = 3.86, SD = .15) were more likely to believe misinformation than those who read news containing a certain threat and certain solution (M= 3.47, SD = .16). Threat uncertainty of health information significantly promoted information seeking behavior (F(1, 367) = 4.47, p = .035, partial η2 = .012). This implies that people who read news with presence of uncertain threat (M = 5.60, SE = .10) were more likely to search for additional relevant information than those who read news with the absence of uncertain threat (M = 5.31, SE = .10).

Conclusions:

This study investigated the effects of uncertainty on audience and the mechanisms by which they functioned in the news coverage on COVID-19. The results of the study corroborate the previous research findings on information uncertainty: in the context of uncertainty, news coverage affects audience not as a direct result of mass communication, but through a combination of mass communication, interpersonal communication and intrapersonal communication. It has been found that information with uncertainty affects audience’s psychological perceptions and evaluation of risk, which in turn affects people’s uncertainty management mechanisms and, ultimately, their health behaviors.