Background: Online misinformation proliferation during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major public health concern. Objective: We aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation exposure and beliefs, associated factors including psychological distress with misinformation exposure, and the associations between COVID-19 knowledge and number of preventive behaviors. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1049 South Korean adults in April 2020. Respondents were asked about receiving COVID-19 misinformation using 12 items identified by the World Health Organization. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for the association of receiving misinformation with sociodemographic characteristics, source of information, COVID-19 misinformation belief, and psychological distress, as well as the associations of COVID-19 misinformation belief with COVID-19 knowledge and the number of COVID-19 preventive behaviors among those who received the misinformation. All data were weighted according to the Korea census data in 2018. Results: Overall, 67.78% (n=711) of respondents reported exposure to at least one COVID-19 misinformation item. Misinformation exposure was associated with younger age, higher education levels, and lower income. Sources of information associated with misinformation exposure were social networking services (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.20-2.32) and instant messaging (aOR 1.79, 1.27-2.51). Misinformation exposure was also associated with psychological distress including anxiety (aOR 1.80, 1.24-2.61), depressive (aOR 1.47, 1.09-2.00), and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (aOR 1.97, 1.42-2.73), as well as misinformation belief (aOR 7.33, 5.17-10.38). Misinformation belief was associated with poorer COVID-19 knowledge (high: aOR 0.62, 0.45-0.84) and fewer preventive behaviors (≥7 behaviors: aOR 0.54, 0.39-0.74). Conclusions: COVID-19 misinformation exposure was associated with misinformation belief, while misinformation belief was associated with fewer preventive behaviors. Given the potential of misinformation to undermine global efforts in COVID-19 disease control, up-to-date public health strategies are required to counter the proliferation of misinformation.

This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the practice of COVID-19 prevention behaviors among college students as future medical workers. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in September 2021. A total of 526 health college students were included in this study. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine the effect on the practice of COVID-19 prevention behavior. As a result of the analysis, experiences of education on infectious diseases had significant positive effects on the practice of prevention behavior (β = 0.22, p < 0.001). Additionally, a higher COVID-19 health belief had a significant positive effect on the practice of prevention behavior (β = 0.15, p = 0.004). Increased smoking and drinking among lifestyle changes after COVID-19 had significant negative effects on the practice of prevention behavior compared with decreased physical activity (β = −0.12, p = 0.007). Based on these findings, the study discussed the importance of education on the prevention of infectious diseases among health college students, promotion of health beliefs related to infectious diseases, and formation of healthy lifestyle habits in daily life.

Introduction: In recent years, patient safety activities have shifted from being centered on healthcare providers to involving patients themselves. Health literacy of inpatients has a direct impact on patient participation behavior. Patient safety perception was also associated with willingness to participate in patient safety and patient participation behavior. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating effects of patient safety perception and willingness to participate in patient safety on the relationship between health literacy and patient participation behavior among inpatients.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to confirm the relationship between study variables. A total of 262 inpatients were recruited from patients admitted to the ward of a tertiary general hospital between October and November 2023. Participants were invited to complete self-reported questionnaires that measured health literacy, patient safety perception, willingness to participate in patient safety, patient participation behavior, and demographic information. Data were analyzed using a dual mediation model applying the PROCESS macro (Model 6) with 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals.Results: This study analyzed the direct effects of health literacy on patient safety perceptions and patient participation behavior. Health literacy indirectly affected patient participation behavior through patient safety perceptions and willingness to participate in patient safety. Regarding the relationship between health literacy and patient participation behavior, patient safety perceptions and willingness to participate in patient safety showed a significant dual mediating effect.Conclusions: This study identified the factors that promote patient participation behavior among inpatients. The mediating effect of patient safety perception on the relationship between health literacy and patient participation behavior was found to be strong. Building health literacy among inpatients ensures patient safety by increasing patient safety perceptions.

The purpose of this study was to confirm the relationship between internal health locus of control, mental health problems, and subjective well-being in adults during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the mediating effect of mental health problems on the relationship between internal health locus of control and subjective well-being was examined. A cross-sectional descriptive design was conducted via online survey. The participants were 600 adults over 20 years of age living in South Korea. The collected data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis and SPSS Process Macro (Model 4). As a result of the study, the internal health locus of control had a significant negative effect on mental health problems. In addition, in the process of the internal health locus of control affecting subjective well-being, the mediating effect of mental health problems was significantly shown. In the period of an infectious disease pandemic such as COVID-19, it is necessary to establish a strong internal health locus of control of individuals and to promote monitoring and treatment introduction for those with a low internal health locus of control. In addition, it was discussed that controlling mental health problems can improve subjective well-being, which is life satisfaction and happiness.

Background: Patient safety is considered an important issue in the field of healthcare, and most advanced countries. Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate a patient safety education program among hospitalized patients. Of the 69 participants, 33 completed the patient safety education program while the 36 remaining participants were given educational booklets. The program was used to measure knowledge about patient safety, patient safety perception, and willingness to participate in patient safety. Methods: Patient safety education was developed by the analysis–design–development–implementation–evaluation model considering expert advice, patient needs, and an extensive literature review. Data were collected from 20 July to 13 November 2020. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical program. The effectiveness of the experimental and control groups before and after education was analyzed using paired t-tests, and the difference in the amount of increase in the measured variables for each group was analyzed using independent t-tests. Results: The experimental group had significantly higher patient safety scores (t = 2.52, p = 0.014) and patient safety perception (t = 2.09, p = 0.040) than those of the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the willingness to participate in patient safety. Conclusion: The patient safety education program developed using mobile tablet PCs could be an effective tool to enhance patient involvement in preventing events that may threaten the safety of patients. Further studies are recommended to develop a variety of educational interventions to increase patient safety knowledge and perceptions of patients and caregivers.

This study analyzed trends in patient safety incidents (PSIs) and the factors associated with the PSIs by analyzing 2017–2019 Patient Safety Report data in Korea. We extracted 2940 records in 2017, 5889 in 2018, and 7386 in 2019, from hospitals with more than 200 beds, and used all 16,215 cases for analysis. SPSS 25.0 was used for a multi-nominal logistic regression analysis. The PSI trend analysis, the standardized Jonckheere–Terpstra test was significant. On analyzing the probability of adverse events based on near misses, the significant variables were patient age, the season when PSIs occurred, incident reporter, hospital size, the location of PSIs, the type of PSIs, and medical department. Additionally, the factors that were likely to precipitate sentinel events based on near misses were patient sex, patient age, incident reporter, the type of PSIs, and medical department. To prevent sentinel events in PSIs, female and older patients are required to pay close attention. Moreover, it is necessary to establish a patient safety reporting system in which not only all medical personnel, but also patients, generally, can actively participate in patient safety activities and report voluntarily.