Background: With the spread of COVID-19, an infodemic is also emerging. In public health emergencies, the use of information to enable disease prevention and treatment is incredibly important. Although both the information adoption model (IAM) and health belief model (HBM) have their own merits, they only focus on information or public influence factors, respectively, to explain the public’s intention to adopt online prevention and treatment information. Objective: The aim of this study was to fill this gap by using a combination of the IAM and the HBM as the framework for exploring the influencing factors and paths in public health events that affect the public’s adoption of online health information and health behaviors, focusing on both objective and subjective factors. Methods: We carried out an online survey to collect responses from participants in China (N=501). Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate items, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to calculate construct reliability and validity. The goodness of fit of the model and mediation effects were analyzed. Results: The overall fitness indices for the model developed in this study indicated an acceptable fit. Adoption intention was predicted by information characteristics (β=.266, P<.001) and perceived usefulness (β=.565, P<.001), which jointly explained nearly 67% of the adoption intention variance. Information characteristics (β=.244, P<.001), perceived drawbacks (β=–.097, P=.002), perceived benefits (β=.512, P<.001), and self-efficacy (β=.141, P<.001) jointly determined perceived usefulness and explained about 81% of the variance of perceived usefulness. However, social influence did not have a statistically significant impact on perceived usefulness, and self-efficacy did not significantly influence adoption intention directly. Conclusions: By integrating IAM and HBM, this study provided the insight and understanding that perceived usefulness and adoption intention of online health information could be influenced by information characteristics, people’s perceptions of information drawbacks and benefits, and self-efficacy. Moreover, people also exhibited proactive behavior rather than reactive behavior to adopt information. Thus, we should consider these factors when helping the informed public obtain useful information via two approaches: one is to improve the quality of government-based and other official information, and the other is to improve the public’s capacity to obtain information, in order to promote truth and fight rumors. This will, in turn, contribute to saving lives as the pandemic continues to unfold and run its course.

This study aimed to understand the intention and correlation of receiving and recommending influenza vaccine (IV) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in China during the 2022/2023 season using the behavior and social drivers (BeSD) tools. A self-administered electronic survey collected 17,832 participants on a media platform. We investigated the willingness of IV and used multivariate logistic regression analysis to explore its associated factors. The average scores of the 3Cs’ model were compared by multiple comparisons. We also explored the factors that potentially correlated with recommendation willingness by partial regression. The willingness of IV was 74.89% among HCWs, and 82.58% of the participants were likely to recommend it to others during this season. Thinking and feeling was the strongest domain independently associated with willingness. All domains in BeSD were significantly different between the hesitancy and acceptance groups. Central factors in the 3Cs model were significantly different among groups (p < 0.01). HCWs’ willingness to IV recommendation was influenced by their ability to answer related questions (r = 0.187, p < 0.001) after controlling for their IV willingness and perceived risk. HCWs’ attitudes towards IV affect their vaccination and recommendation. The BeSD framework revealed the drivers during the decision-making process. Further study should classify the causes in detail to refine HCWs’ education.

Objective: This study aimed to understand the perception of patient safety and the reporting system in public in China, and make further recommendations for the optimization of the reporting system of patient safety. Methods: The following data were collected through an online questionnaire from medical staffs and patients: recognition of patient safety, comments on patient participation, comments on spontaneous reports, attitudes toward the principles of spontaneous reports, and willingness to participate. This information was presented with frequency and percentage with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Spearman rank correlation was used to evaluate the association of those data. Results: A total of 27,493 valid questionnaires were collected in this study. The participants who knew patient safety very well, regarded patients as an essential part to enhance patient safety, viewed spontaneous reports helpful, agreed on the 3 principles of voluntariness, anonymity, and nonpunishment of the reporter, and were willing to participate in reporting were accounted for 39.2% (95% CI, 38.6%–39.8%), 31.2% (95% CI, 30.7%–31.8%), 25.2% (95% CI, 24.7%–25.7%), 24.0% (95% CI, 23.5%–24.5%), and 19.9% (95% CI, 19.4%–20.4%), respectively. A moderate positive correlation was observed between comments on spontaneous reports and attitudes toward the principles of spontaneous reports (medical staffs versus patients, r _s = 0.452 versus r _s = 0.439; both, P < 0.01), as well as comments on patient participation and comments on spontaneous reports (medical staffs versus patients, r _s = 0.410 versus r _s = 0.460; both, P < 0.01). Conclusions: The awareness of patient safety may influence the choices of the other questions subsequently and may affect their voluntariness for safety reports ultimately. Pertinent measures, such as publicity of the relevant concept, simplification of the reporting procedures, and promotion of incentive mechanisms, should be adopted to promote the optimization of the reporting system.

Varicella vaccination has significantly reduced varicella incidence, but raised concerns regarding the potential reactivation of herpes zoster (HZ) reactivation. This study evaluated the epidemiology of HZ in young patients and the causative varicella‐zoster virus (VZV) genotype. This prospective study collected data through the Healthcare Big Data Center of Yichang, China, including patients with HZ aged ≤ 20 years. Clinical characteristics and economic burden were assessed using questionnaires, and virological analyses of vesicular fluid and throat‐swab samples were performed to identify the VZV genotype. Kaplan–Meier plots and regression models were applied to assess the disease burden. Forty‐six patients with HZ were identified (median age: 15.2 years, male‐to‐female ratio: 1.3). Genotyping confirmed revealed only wild‐type VZV in all cases without evidence of vaccine strain reactivation. Vesicular eruptions predominantly affected the thoracic region, with a mean disease course of 21.2 days; only five patients reported postherpetic neuralgia. No significant differences were observed between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups in terms of clinical outcomes or economic burden. The incidence of HZ in adolescents is low and generally mild. Varicella vaccination appears safe for up to at least 10 years postvaccination without evidence of vaccine strain‐mediated HZ reactivation.

To clarify the preferences of employees seeking influenza vaccination, a discrete choice experiment aims to understand the essential factors that close the gap between intention and behavior. A total of 866 employees with vaccination willingness willing to participated in a discrete choice experiment (DCE) between October 31st and December 6th^, 2022 in China including the following attributes: price, vaccination setting, appointment mode, and service time. The data was analyzed using mixed logit models. Employees from smaller enterprises were more likely to get vaccinated collectively. For employees willing to get the influenza vaccine, 95.08 % of their choice was dominated by price. Employees’ behavior varied according to their socioeconomic characteristics. Only female employees strongly favored work-site-based vaccination. Price was the primary factor considered by employees for getting the influenza vaccine. DCE would help to develop influenza vaccination intervention targeted at different groups in future studies.