Information overload in the context of COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the psychometric properties of the Coronavirus Information Overload scale (CovIO) and explore relationships between CovIO, its predictors and several health behaviours related to the COVID-19 pandemic, using Cancer Information Overload (CIO) scale results as a reference for comparison. METHODS: 2003 participants representative of the French adult population answered a self-administered questionnaire over two waves of polling (N1(June 2020)= 1003, N2(January 2021)= 1000). Respondents were randomized to fill CovIO or CIO scale. Psychometric properties of scales were evaluated with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Predictors were assessed using multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: CovIO scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties (α=0.86, ω=0.86, RMSEA=0.050) without any measurement invariance issue. CovIO increased between waves of sampling and was significantly linked to education, health literacy and trust in institutions among other variables. A negative relationship between information overload and preventive behaviours was also observed. CONCLUSION: The CovIO scale is a valid tool for assessing COVID-19 information overload. The dynamical formation of information overload and links with theorised predictors, especially, health literacy are confirmed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Longitudinal designs could help better understand the potential detrimental effect of information overload and improving public health campaigns. Interventions to reduce the degree of overload are needed.

Digital contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic in France: Associated factors and reasons for non-use.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the proportion of users of the TousAntiCovid app(lication) and identify factors associated with its non-use for contact tracing. METHODS: We conducted an online survey of a quota sample of French adults between 8 and 18 January 2021. Three categories of TousAntiCovid use were considered: contact tracing, other or temporary usage, and no use. A weighted multiple logistic regression was performed to analyze the factors associated with these different uses. RESULTS: Among the 1000 respondents, 63.3% declared they had never downloaded the TousAntiCovid app, 23.5% used it for contact tracing. The remaining 13.2% did not enable contact tracing, mainly because of excessive battery consumption and fear of misuse of personal data. Trust in political representatives, financial deprivation and other factors were associated with never downloading the app. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the previously suggested links between trust in political representatives, financial deprivation and the use of contact tracing apps in France.

Public perceptions of the association between drug effectiveness and drug novelty in France during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, public debates overtly addressed the promises of new innovative drugs. Many of these debates pitted those who advocated for the development of new drugs by pharmaceutical companies against those who favored the repositioning of existing drugs. Our study explored perceptions of the association between drug novelty and effectiveness as well as perceptions of the role of the pharmaceutical industry in drug development. METHODS: Data were collected in January 2021 from a quota sample of the French population aged 18-75years (n=1,000) during the second round of the "Health Literacy Survey 2019" (HLS19). RESULTS: We tested the hypothesis that individuals with a high level of familiarity with the health care system and those with a high level of trust in institutions are more likely to agree that new drugs are more effective than old ones and that drug development should be driven by the pharmaceutical industry. A quarter (25%) of respondents agreed that new drugs are always more effective than old ones. Agreement with this statement was stronger among respondents with a high level of familiarity with the health care system (as measured by the navigational health literacy score, OR 3.34 [2.13-5.24]). Respondents with a low level of trust in pharmaceutical companies or politicians were two times less likely to agree that new drugs are always more effective than old ones (OR 0.63 [0.42-0.95] and OR 0.68 [0.49-0.94], respectively). A high level of trust in pharmaceutical companies was reported by 42% of respondents, and 43% agreed that drug development should be driven by the pharmaceutical industry. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that the perceived effectiveness of innovative drugs is associated with familiarity with the health care system and trust in institutions.

From contact tracing to COVID-19 pass holder; the tortured journey of the French TousAntiCovid contact tracing app.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to provide an updated overview of the use of the French contact tracing application, TousAntiCovid, and identify evolutions since the beginning of the pandemic. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a survey study on a representative sample of the French adult population. METHODS: Our data were collected by the Obervatoire Régional de la Santé (ORS) using a self-administered online questionnaire. This was completed by a sample of 2,022 people stratified to match French official census statistics for gender, age, occupation, and area of housing. We conducted statistical analysis using Python (Pandas - Scipy - Statsmodels) with chi-squared and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests to control for statistical significance. RESULTS: A small majority of respondents used TousAntiCovid (55.5%), while 41.0% had never downloaded it. Only one-quarter of the respondents (23.3%) used it for contact tracing with Bluetooth, while a third (32.2%) used it only for storing their health pass. The app's use increased with education level, income, and younger age. A large majority (85%) of non-vaccinated respondents had never downloaded TousAntiCovid. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the role and use of France's official COVID-19 app TousAntiCovid has evolved in line with the government's strategy; while initially focusing on contact tracing, its development has led to the possibility to store test and vaccination documentation. The survey also confirmed previous results pointing to the lasting differences in socio-economic status in terms of adoption of the app. This is problematic because the long-term nature of the pandemic could require the government to keep a range of strategies open, including contact tracing. Public discussion of the current and future roles of the French contact tracing app is therefore needed.

Does the public know when a scientific controversy is over? Public perceptions of hydroxychloroquine in France between April 2020 and June 2021.

OBJECTIVES: In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, chloroquine and its derivatives such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were widely commented upon both within the scientific community and in the media. This paper explores the different factors that influenced public perceptions in France of the efficacy of HCQ as well as their evolution between April 2020 and June 2021. METHODS: This article draws on 5 surveys conducted among representative samples of the French population (projects COCONEL and TRACTRUST; quota method, n=1006; 1004; 2006; 1014 and 1005). We asked questions on the effectiveness of chloroquine against COVID-19. We also collected sociodemographic variables and attitudes toward politics and science. RESULTS: Between April and June 2021, the proportion of respondents who believed in the efficacy of HCQ decreased rapidly from 35% to 14%. The proportion of respondents who believed that HCQ is ineffective rose gradually from 6% to 21%. After adjusting for the temporal effect, the logistic regression showed a very strong association between political orientation and the belief in the efficacy of HCQ. Respondents who felt closest to the more radical parties (far-right and far-left) were more likely to believe in the efficacy of HCQ than those who felt closest to the political center (O.R. 2.48 [1.95-3.15] and 1.87 [1.44-2.43]). The role of trust in the government and in science and of the degree of political engagement were investigated in the two waves conducted after the scientific consensus was established during the summer of 2020. High levels of trust in the government and in science and of politicization are associated with belief of HCQ proven inefficacy. Across the whole period, a majority of respondents were uncertain. Even in 2021, 41.5% stated that the data were insufficient to decide whether or not HCQ is effective and 25.2% stating that they did not know. CONCLUSION: Because media coverage of scientific controversies is higher in times of uncertainty than after these controversies have died down, the publicization of therapeutic promises can have lasting consequences on attitudes towards science and medicine.

Early Acceptability of a Mobile App for Contact Tracing During the COVID-19 Pandemic in France: National Web-Based Survey.

BACKGROUND: Several countries have implemented mobile apps in an attempt to trace close contacts of patients with COVID-19 and, in turn, reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. However, the effectiveness of this approach depends on the adherence of a large segment of the population. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to evaluate the acceptability of a COVID-19 contact tracing mobile app among the French population and to investigate the barriers to its use. METHODS: The Health Literacy Survey 2019 questioned 1003 people in France during the COVID-19 pandemic on the basis of quota sampling. The survey collected sociodemographic characteristics and health literacy data, as well as information on participants' communication with caregivers, trust in institutions, and COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors. The acceptability of a mobile app for contact tracing was measured by a single question, the responses to which were grouped into three modalities: app-supporting, app-willing, and app-reluctant. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with the acceptability of a mobile app during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Only 19.2% (193/1003) of all participants were app-supporting, whereas half of them (504/1003, 50.3%) were reluctant. The factors associated with willingness or support toward the contact tracing app included lower financial deprivation (app-willing: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.8, 95% CI 0.69-0.93; app-supporting: aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.58-0.84) and higher perceived usefulness of using a mobile app to send completed health questionnaires to doctors (app-willing: aOR 2.3, 95% CI 1.70-3.26; app-supporting: aOR 3.1, 95% CI 2.04-4.82). Furthermore, the likelihood of supporting the mobile app increased with age over 60 years (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.13-3.22), trust in political representatives (aOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.72-4.23), feeling concerned about the pandemic situation (aOR 2.2, 95% CI 1.47-3.32), and knowledge about the transmission of COVID-19 (aOR 2.0, 95% CI 1.39-2.96). CONCLUSIONS: The most socioeconomically precarious people, who are at a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, are also the most reluctant to using a contact tracing mobile app. Therefore, optimal adherence can only be effective with a targeted discourse on public health benefits to adopt such an app, which should be combined with a reduction in inequalities by acting on structural determinants.

Science under Covid-19’s magnifying glass: Lessons from the first months of the chloroquine debate in the French press

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, all hopes are turned towards science. In this article, we put forward a qualitative analysis of how the French national press covered the issue of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine during the first months, with a focus on the descriptions of the scientific world. We show that during epidemic outbreaks the various tensions existing within the scientific world are more likely to be presented to the public. In their coverage of hydroxychloroquine, journalists shed light on a variety of aspects of contemporary medical research, ranging from the way scientists approach a given drug, the stages of research on medical treatments, the types of proofs used and the institutional make-up of biomedical research. But in doing so they also presented a series of tensions and disagreements which devolved into public accusations of scientific misconduct and anti-science behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Sociology is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

French Public Familiarity and Attitudes toward Clinical Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic put clinical research in the media spotlight globally. This article proposes a first measure of familiarity with and attitude toward clinical research in France. Drawing from the "Health Literacy Survey 2019" (HLS19) conducted online between 27 May and 5 June 2020 on a sample of the French adult population (N = 1003), we show that a significant proportion of the French population claimed some familiarity with clinical trials (64.8%) and had positive attitudes (72%) toward them. One of the important findings of this study is that positive attitudes toward clinical research exist side by side with a strong distancing from the pharmaceutical industry. While respondents acknowledged that the pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in clinical research (68.3%), only one-quarter indicated that they trust the industry (25.7%). Positive attitudes toward clinical trials were associated with familiarity with clinical trials (Odds Ratio, OR 2.97 [1.90-4.63]), financial difficulties (OR 0.63 [0.46-0.85]), as well as mistrust of doctors (0.48 [0.27-0.85]) and of scientists (OR 0.62 [0.38-0.99]). Although the French media provided a great deal of information on how clinical research works during the first months of the pandemic, there remains profound mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry in France. This suspicion can undermine crisis management, especially in the areas of vaccine development and preparation for future pandemics.