Objective: People with lower levels of health literacy are likely to report engaging in information avoidance. However, health information avoidance has been overlooked in previous research on responses to viral outbreaks. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey study was to assess the relationship between health literacy and COVID-19 information avoidance. Students (n = 561) at a university in the south central region of the U.S. completed our online survey conducted from April to June 2020 using simple random sampling. We measured information avoidance and the degree to which people opt not to learn about COVID-19 when given the choice. We assessed participants’ health literacy level using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), and All Aspect of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS). Results: Those with lower health literacy were more likely to avoid information about COVID-19. This negative association between health literacy and information avoidance was consistent across all types of health literacy measures: NVS scores (b = − 0.47, p = 0.033), eHEALS scores (b = − 0.12, p = 0.003), functional health literacy (b = − 0.66, p = 0.001), communicative health literacy (b = − 0.94, p < 0.001), information appraisal (b = − 0.36, p = 0.004), and empowerment (b = − 0.62, p = 0.027). The double burden of low health literacy and high information avoidance is likely to lead to a lack of knowledge about COVID-19.

People’s health information-seeking behaviors differ by their health literacy levels. This study assessed the relationship between health literacy and college students’ levels of trust in and use of a range of health information sources of COVID-19. We collected data from August to December 2020 among college students (n = 763) through an online survey. We used a health literacy measure containing three self-reported survey questions, developed by the CDC. We assessed the extent to which participants trusted and used any of the sixteen different sources of information about COVID-19. Respondents reported high levels of trusting and using COVID-19 information from the CDC, health care providers, the WHO, state/county/city health departments, and official government websites when compared to other sources. After controlling for demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, age, race, ethnicity, and income), those who reported having lower health literacy were significantly less likely to trust and use COVID-19 information from these health authorities when compared to participants who reported having higher health literacy. Students with lower self-reported health literacy indicated not trusting or using official health authority sources for COVID-19 information. Relying on low-quality information sources could create and reinforce people’s misperceptions regarding the virus, leading to low compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures and poor health outcomes.

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Taiwan has been increasing, and genetic testing for ASD has been available and provided to parents of children diagnosed with ASD in Taiwan. However, there is still limited understanding of Taiwanese parents’ knowledge of and attitudes toward such testing. Therefore, the present study addressed this gap by assessing the attitudes toward as well as actual and perceived knowledge of ASD genetic testing among Taiwanese parents of children diagnosed with ASD. A sample of 443 parents of children with ASD recruited from 236 public schools in Taiwan completed a paper-and-pencil survey. Although parents generally held favorable attitudes toward ASD genetic testing, they had deficient knowledge of such test (with only a 31.4% average correct rate on the actual knowledge scale). Tailored health education materials should be developed to improve the knowledge of ASD genetic testing among parents with affected children in Taiwan.

The COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to over 200 countries and regions. With the unprecedented vaccination scale and speed, vaccination correlated mental health issues should be paid precise attention to. This study aims to assess the association between socio-demographic factors and mental health following vaccination and to analyze the mediation effect of vaccine hesitancy. This study recruited 2112 individuals who took two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Shanghai. Structural equation modeling was performed to assess factors associated with anxiety and depression of the vaccinated individuals and the underlying mechanism. The results yielded that vaccine hesitancy partially mediated/suppressed the effect from gender and employment status to anxiety/depression and fully mediated the effects from education to anxiety/depression. This study advanced the understanding of mental health disparity among different socio-demographic groups after vaccination and the impact of vaccine hesitancy on the vaccinated population’s mental health. The finding offered insights into the possible mental vulnerability of people holding a hesitant attitude before vaccination and suggested that vaccine hesitancy played a crucial role in people’s mental health after vaccination. Health promotion programs can target vaccine hesitancy to prevent unfavorable mental health consequences among specific populations.

Background: This study examines how health literacy and mental health literacy associate with the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination among American Indian/Alaska Native/Native American (AI/AN) people. Methods: The data were collected with an online Qualtrics survey in February 2021 (n = 563). A purposive snowball sampling strategy was used by sending recruitment flyers to colleagues and organizations who work with AI/AN communities to share with appropriate potential respondents. We performed linear regression analyses examining the relationships between the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination and socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education, health literacy, mental health literacy, self-rated physical and mental health status, worry about getting COVID-19, perceived COVID-19 susceptibility, and perceived COVID-19 severity. Results: Mental health literacy and health literacy predicted 30.90% and 4.65% of the variance (R²_adjusted) in the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, respectively. After holding the self-rated physical/mental health status, worry about getting COVID-19, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, health literacy, and socio-demographics constant, mental health literacy was still a strong predictor (b = 0.03, p < 0.001) for the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (model R²_adjusted = 40.14%). Conclusions: We identified mental health literacy as a substantial factor associated with the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination among AI/AN respondents.

Chinese-Americans are one of the largest groups of Asian-Americans in the US with distinctive behavioral and cultural characteristics that influence health service use. Although Chinese-Americans have significantly higher COVID-19-related mortality rates, relative to other racial and ethnic groups, limited literature is available examining their willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. With recent development of the combination influenza-COVID-19 vaccine by biotechnology companies to mitigate COVID-19 infection, we examined factors associated with Chinese-Americans’ acceptance of hypothetical annual doses of COVID-19 vaccination before the vaccine rollout. A total of 241 Chinese-Americans who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine completed an online questionnaire developed and based on health behavior theories. Our results indicated that Chinese-American participants who were satisfied with their prior COVID-19 vaccination experience, who had more accurate knowledge and perceived higher susceptibility of getting COVID-19, were more willing to receive the annual COVID-19 vaccine in the future. The findings of our current study may be used to guide the development of strategic messages to promote uptake of the annual COVID-19 vaccine by Chinese-Americans in the U.S.