Introduction

[...]shifting ideologies surrounding "the family” inform and carry implications for economic, political, cultural, and social practices and activities. [...]of this dominance and influence of the family, this special issue centers on family-focused library and information science (LIS) research and is borne from conversations and reflections posed at a 2019 iConference Session for Interaction and Engagement of the same name. [...]in "Students and Parents: How Academic Libraries Serve a Growing Population,” Marta Bladek employs multiple sources of data to draw attention to the challenges and barriers postsecondary students who are also parents must contend with as they attempt to access academic library services and supports. [...]the articles in this issue also highlight the diverse areas within LIS that may be enriched by a consideration of the family context, including the study of information practices (Han;McKenzie;Ortiz-Myers and Costello), archival practices and personal information management (Krtalić, Dinneen, Liew, and Goulding), consumer health information (Charbonneau and Akers), reader response theory (Velez), early literacy (Prendergast and Sharkey), and library service provision (Bladek).

The significance of the library's physical space: how COVID-19 impacted a consumer health service.

Background: During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumer health libraries were forced to close their doors to patrons. At the Health Information Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, the physical space closed, while health information services continued to be provided via phone and email. To examine the impact of lack of access to a physical library for consumer health information, researchers analyzed the number of health information requests pre-COVID-19 pandemic compared to during the initial phase of the pandemic. Case Presentation: Data from an internal database was collected and analyzed. Researchers divided the data into three time periods: March 2018 to February 2019 (Phase 1), March 2019 to February 2020 (Phase 2), and March 2020 to February 2021 (Phase 3). Data was de-identified and duplicate entries were removed. The type of interaction and request topics were reviewed in each phase. Conclusion: In Phase 1, there were 535 walk-ins to request health information and 555 walk-ins in Phase 2. In Phase 3, there were 40 walk-ins. The number of requests through phone and email varied but remained steady. There was a 61.56% decrease in requests between Phase 1 and Phase 3 while there was a 66.27% decrease between Phase 2 and Phase 3 due to the lack of walk-in requests. The number of phone and email requests did not increase despite the closure of the physical library space to the public. Access to the physical space plays a significant role in providing health information requests to patients and family members.

Evaluating a Pandemic Chat Service in a Consumer Health Library

When The Learning Center, a consumer health library at a cancer center, closed its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not a robust system of virtual outreach in place. Staff decided to implement a chat/SMS service as one way to reach patrons during the library's 16-month shutdown, but usage numbers were low. A variety of factors can affect use and complicate success, and quantitative measures may not be the sole factor in evaluating a new service and whether it should continue. This article will talk about service implementation, challenges and context, patron and staff satisfaction, and lessons learned from the process.

Analyzing Public Libraries as Civic Agents in Advocating for COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake

To examine how public libraries combated COVID-19 misinformation and promoted vaccination in their communities, this study analyzed data from 80 libraries' webpages, Facebook postings, shared health information resources to examine the correlation between community factors, information types, and vaccination rates. Results showed city size and number of MLS librarians significantly affected information shared. Six information types contributed to higher vaccination rates: vaccination event information, local organization partnerships, vaccine information, library events, vaccine accessibility discussions, and free clinic time frames. Public libraries can thus serve as essential civic agents for promoting evidence-based health information and increasing vaccination rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Public Library Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis 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.)

Evolution of Health Information on the Web: A Program Description of a Workshop for Seniors

Health Information on the Web was originally designed to be an hour and a half long session introducing senior citizens to using the Web and locating health information online. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was transformed into a webinar hosted on Zoom. In this new setting it was important to reconsider the material being presented and how.

Examining thematic and emotional differences across Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube: The case of COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

Social media discourse has become a key data source for understanding the public's perception of, and sentiments during a public health crisis. However, given the different niches which platforms occupy in terms of information exchange, reliance on a single platform would provide an incomplete picture of public opinions. Based on the schema theory, this study suggests a 'social media platform schema' to indicate users' different expectations based on previous usages of platform and argues that a platform's distinct characteristics foster distinct platform schema and, in turn, distinct nature of information. We analyzed COVID-19 vaccine side effect-related discussions from Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube, each of which represents a different type of the platform, and found thematic and emotional differences across platforms. Thematic analysis using k-means clustering algorithm identified seven clusters in each platform. To computationally group and contrast thematic clusters across platforms, we employed modularity analysis using the Louvain algorithm to determine a semantic network structure based on themes. We also observed differences in emotional contexts across platforms. Theoretical and public health implications are then discussed.

Public information needs and preferences on COVID-19: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Right from the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic the general public faced the challenge to find reliable and understandable information in the overwhelming flood of information. To enhance informed decision-making, evidence-based information should be provided. Aim was to explore the general public's information needs and preferences on COVID-19 as well as the barriers to accessing evidence-based information. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study. Nine hundred twenty-seven panel members were invited to an online survey (12/2020-02/2021). The HeReCa-online-panel is installed at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg to assess regularly the general public's view on health issues in five regions in Germany. The survey was set up in LimeSurvey, with nine items, multiple-choice and open-ended questions that allowed to gather qualitative data. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and a content analysis was carried out to categorise the qualitative data. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-six panel members provided data; mean age 52 years, 56.2% female, and 64.9% with higher education qualifications. Asked about relevant topics related to COVID-19, most participants selected vaccination (63.8%), infection control (52%), and long-term effects (47.8%). The following 11 categories were derived from the qualitative analysis representing the topics of interest: vaccination, infection control, long-term effects, therapies, test methods, mental health, symptoms, structures for pandemic control, infrastructure in health care, research. Participants preferred traditional media (TV 70.6%; radio 58.5%; newspaper 32.7%) to social media, but also used the internet as sources of information, becoming aware of new information on websites (28.5%) or via email/newsletter (20.1%). The knowledge question (Which European country is most affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?) was correctly answered by 7.5% of participants. The Robert Koch Institute (93.7%) and the World Health Organization (78%) were well known, while other organisations providing health information were rarely known (< 10%). Barriers to accessing trustworthy information were lack of time (30.7%), little experience (23.1%), uncertainty about how to get access (22.2%), complexity and difficulties in understanding (23.9%), and a lack of target group orientation (15,3%). CONCLUSIONS: There are extensive information needs regarding various aspects on COVID-19 among the general population. In addition, target-specific dissemination strategies are still needed to reach different groups.

On Your Mind

The article presents questions and answers related to health including causes of morning cough, vaccines covered by Medicare, and healthy breakfast meals.

Health Wire

This section offers news briefs pertaining to health as of January 1, 2023. Research suggests that regular home monitoring can help keep blood pressure at a lower level. A study found that drinking java made with ground coffee may help lower the risk of dying over 12 years than drinking no coffee. Older adults who did yoga or a short course of cognitive behavioral therapy reported less anxiety and insomnia.

Vec4Cred: a model for health misinformation detection in web pages.

Research aimed at finding solutions to the problem of the diffusion of distinct forms of non-genuine information online across multiple domains has attracted growing interest in recent years, from opinion spam to fake news detection. Currently, partly due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak and the subsequent proliferation of unfounded claims and highly biased content, attention has focused on developing solutions that can automatically assess the genuineness of health information. Most of these approaches, applied both to Web pages and social media content, rely primarily on the use of handcrafted features in conjunction with Machine Learning. In this article, instead, we propose a health misinformation detection model that exploits as features the embedded representations of some structural and content characteristics of Web pages, which are obtained using an embedding model pre-trained on medical data. Such features are employed within a deep learning classification model, which categorizes genuine health information versus health misinformation. The purpose of this article is therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, namely Vec4Cred, with respect to the problem considered. This model represents an evolution of a previous one, with respect to which new features and architectural choices have been considered and illustrated in this work.

Assessing the readability and quality of online information on Bell's palsy.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the readability and quality of current online information on Bell's palsy. METHOD: A Google search using the terms 'Bell's palsy' and 'facial palsy' was performed separately. The first three pages of results were analysed. Readability was assessed using Flesch Reading Ease Score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning-Fog Index and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. Quality was assessed using the Discern tool. Spearman's correlation between quality and readability was calculated. RESULTS: A total of 31 websites met the inclusion criteria. The mean Flesch Reading Ease Score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning Fox Index and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook scores were 52.45 (95 per cent confidence interval = 47.01-57.86), 10.50 (95 per cent confidence interval = 9.42-11.58), 12.76 (95 per cent confidence interval = 11.68-13.85) and 9.36 (95 per cent confidence interval = 8.52-10.20), respectively. The average Discern score was 44 (95 per cent confidence interval = 40.88-47.12). A negligible correlation was noted between the Discern and Flesch Reading Ease Score (rs = -0.05, p = 0.80). CONCLUSION: Online information on Bell's palsy is generally of fair quality but is written above the recommended reading age guidance in the UK.

Evaluating a Pandemic Chat Service in a Consumer Health Library

When The Learning Center, a consumer health library at a cancer center, closed its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not a robust system of virtual outreach in place. Staff decided to implement a chat/SMS service as one way to reach patrons during the library's 16-month shutdown, but usage numbers were low. A variety of factors can affect use and complicate success, and quantitative measures may not be the sole factor in evaluating a new service and whether it should continue. This article will talk about service implementation, challenges and context, patron and staff satisfaction, and lessons learned from the process. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Assessment of information literacy skills and knowledge-based competencies in using electronic resources among medical students

Purpose>This paper aims to focus on the information literacy skills and how the resources are being used by medical students of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI), Pondicherry, India. The main aim is to determine the medical students use, purpose, search strategies and sources through which aware and literacy skills acquired. Further, this paper aims to bring out the problems faced.Design/methodology/approach>A survey method was conducted through a structured questionnaire distributed among 120 medical students from first year to fourth year. Stratified random sampling was used for selection of students.Findings>Findings of the study revealed that medical students largely used medical databases such as Bentham Sciences, ProQuest, PubMed and MedlinePlus. Further, the paper reveals that majority used health information for updating their knowledge and to acquire general information. The students' information literacy level found minimal, which may be the reason majority of the students found difficulty in locating the desired materials followed by irrelevant information, inadequate e-resources and lack of awareness reported some extent.Originality/value>The recommendations made based on the study are expected to be beneficial to the authorities and library administration of the surveyed institution to take appropriate measures for effective utilization of resources.

Is the Authoritative Online COVID-19 Consumer Health Information Intelligible to Adults of the General Public?: A COVID-19 Information Analysis

ObjectiveTo investigate whether the authoritative COVID-19 consumer health information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States (U.S.) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is at low readability levels (i.e., at or below a sixth-grade reading level). Major public health organizations, such as these have quickly distributed authoritative COVID-19 health information on the Internet during the pandemic. However, scant research has assessed whether the information disseminated by these two major public health organizations enables access by adults from the general public. This study examines the Flesch-Kincaid grade levels of the COVID-19 health information in English distributed by the CDC and the WHO.DesignThe study is guided by communication and information science frameworks. It examines the reading level of the resources to see if they are compatible with the guidelines of the American Medical Association for patient education materials.Methods/settingThe methodology used centered on content and document analyses. The samples analyzed were identified through accessing the COVID-19 health information shared on the websites of the public library systems of the twenty largest cities in the U.S.Key resultsThe results show that the documents reviewed in the study are not compatible with the sixth-grade reading level recommended by the American Medical Association for patient education materials.

Moderating effects of A Health Consciousness on Consumer behavior towards Rte Foods

With growing environmentalism and health concerns, people have become more conscious of the type of food they consume and the way they are processed. The principle of the present research paper is to explore behavior of consumers towards RTE foods and the moderating role of health consciousness. The rationale behind the present study is to find the factors that influence consumption of RTE foods such as longer shelf life, taste, convenience both in terms of time and availability, and dual income families. The key purpose of the study is to explore the influence of health consciousness of consumers in moderating consumer attitude towards their behavior in context of RTE food products. The results suggest that consumption of RTE foods is more in case of dual income families and those who are less concerned about their health. The findings suggest that, the marketer should revolve advertisement and marketing strategies around the factors that they can be transported long distances as they have an increased resistance to spoilage with better shelf life and offer convenience both in terms of time and efforts.

Special Report: Humbled CDC Seeks Reinvention, Culture Change

The article reports that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CDC) has taken responsibility for its haphazard response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is making changes, taking into consideration the recommendations by an independent consultant who conducted an internal review. Topics covered include the declining trust in the CDC during the pandemic, some of the mistakes that the CDC has made in its pandemic response, and the challenges that the agency is facing.

[COVID-19, health literacy, children, education, prejudice, discrimination.]

In Japanese medical issues, the use of terms “Western medicine” and “Eastern medicine” seem to divide the category “medicine” into two twin concepts, based on the area. However, it can be said that “Eastern/Oriental medicine” is given a greatly different definition―that of a derived context―whereas Western medicine is often given a coherent definition―“new medicine transmitted to Japan from the outside” through a historic process. Consequently, the term Oriental/Eastern medicine has been given a strong characteristic of the polysemic word. The term Western/Oriental medicine has been used by medical institutions in Japan. In this field, the background as a polysemic word has been shared, and the state that the treatment accepted various contexts has been maintained so far. Nevertheless, given its newer context,―Oriental/Eastern medicine―has spreads in recent years, and there is a tendency toward the use of the new definition, passing over the conventional polysemic word. It is possible that a discrepancy between the background and context of the conventional polysemic word may occur. There is also concern regarding the confusion around the meaning of the term Eastern/Oriental medicine. This paper intend to rearrange the transition of the relationship between the concepts under the historic context and the meaning of Eastern/Oriental medicine as a polysemic word.

[SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, infection control, information dissemination, vaccine.]

From infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) found in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in 2019, more than two years have passed. COVID-19 showed markedly rapid expansion worldwide. Multiple waves of infections have been coming around the world, and there has been still no sign of convergence. Many problems related to infectious diseases that had been expected have become a reality by the expansion of COVID-19. These includes discrimination and slander against infected people, the spread of various wrong or inappropriate information, and collapse of medical care and social function. Messages related to infection controls, such as wearing masks, avoidance of 3Cs (closed space, crowded places, and close contact settings), social distance, hand sanitization and washing, and so on, are usually called out throughout the community. On the other hand, the development of vaccines and therapeutics is being put to practical use at an unbelievable speed. While considering how it is better to confront this infectious disease in a chaotic situation, I would like to summarize the importance of the behavior change of citizens and how it is good to disseminate information and to have receivers.

Libraries and Librarians as Agents of Health Information Justice: Concluding Thoughts

In this closing chapter, the authors first draw on the contributed chapters in this volume to highlight some of the many ways in which libraries and librarians are moving us closer to health justice by working with their communities to increase consumer health literacy and to decrease health disparities. The authors then focus our attention on the COVID-19 pandemic, discussing the fact that disadvantaged populations are bearing the brunt of the negative impacts of this situation and the many existing and novel roles that libraries and librarians are playing to help to fight consumer health information injustice and to contribute toward better health outcomes for all. Next, Dr Beth Barnett brings her viewpoint as a Board Certified Patient Advocate to the volume, pointing out parallels between the roles of librarians and those of patient advocates, as well as important lessons for patient advocates gleaned from the volume. To conclude the chapter, the authors reiterate our aims for the volume and issue a call to the reader to join libraries and librarians in their important role as agents of health information justice.