Social Media COVID-19 Information and Vaccine Decision: A Latent Class Analysis (preprint)

Aims: To identify the impact of the information consumption modalities related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its vaccine, on the vaccination decision among the social media users. Also to study the relationships between vaccination attitudes, and latent subgroups, socio-demographic variables, fear of COVID-19 and perceived stress. Method: A total of 723 subjects (male: n = 353; 48.8%; female: n = 370; 51.2%), aged 31.08 ± 10.77, participated in our survey prepared online on the Google Forms application via the platforms Twitter and Facebook. Results: Five latent classes were identified by the analysis: Class 1 (mixed consumers), class 2 (the largest consumers of social media), class 3 (consumers of official information), class 4 (low consumers of information on the vaccine) and class 5 (social media consumers information verifiers). Also, the subgroup that is knowledgeable about COVID-19 pandemic and its vaccine, and who consumes the most information about the vaccine from official sources, is the one with the highest vaccine acceptance rate. In addition, the hesitant attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine was linked to gender and mask wearing, while refusal behavior was linked to age, female gender, education level, mask wearing, and fear of COVID-19. Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that specific interventions on social media are needed, to reduce hesitancy rates, and the refusal of vaccination, which is crucial in this period of prevailing of COVID-19 virus.

The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Population of Bahrain (preprint)

Background and Aim: The pandemic of COVID-19 is a global crisis that is considered a stressful event directly and indirectly (via prophylactic measures taken) for people in any society. It can have an impact on mental health resulting in a plethora of symptoms. Method: This study measures the psychological impact, demonstrated by the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. An online semi-structured questionnaire has been used with all participants, and with the measure The Arabic version of The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale -21 (DASS-21). The study design was cross-sectional. Which was conducted in April-May 2020. The sample was (n=1115) from Bahrain’s population, (1081 Bahraini) and (33 non-Bahraini), aged 18 and above, 701 females, most of them were graduated and employed. Results showed 30% were with depressive symptoms, 18.2% have exhibited symptoms, and 30.8% reported stress symptoms. Females were higher than males in depressive and anxiety symptoms. While no gender differences in stress symptoms. The younger age group showed more distress across the board with symptoms reported decreasing with age. Students were also noticed to be the group reporting the highest symptoms, together with people with the lowest income.Conclusion The study has demonstrated a high psychological impact on the population of Bahrain with around a third of the population demonstrating some level of distress.