COVID-19 Pandemi Döneminde Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Medya Kullanımı, Sağlık Okuryazarlığı, Sağlık Kaygısı ve Sağlık Davranışları

Abstract

Pandemi süreci insanların yaşam tarzlarını ve sağlık davranışlarını etkilerken aynı zamanda medya kullanımlarını da etkilemiştir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, COVID-19 salgını sırasında üniversite öğrencilerinin sağlık davranışlarındaki değişimi incelemektir. Sağlık davranışındaki değişiklik, beslenme ve egzersiz alışkanlıklarındaki değişiklikler anlamına gelmektedir. Bu çalışmada medya kullanımı, sağlık okuryazarlığı ve sağlık algısı, sağlık davranışlarındaki değişimin belirleyicileri olarak; sağlık kaygısı ve sağlıklı yaşam becerileri ise aracı değişken olarak ele alınmıştır. Pandeminin ikinci ayında Ankara ilindeki üniversitelerde öğrenim gören 392 üniversite öğrencisine anket uygulanmıştır. Bulgulara göre olumlu sağlık algısı, sağlık okuryazarlığı düzeyi, sağlık kaygısı düzeyi ve sağlıklı yaşam becerileri arttıkça sağlık davranışlarındaki değişim de artmaktadır. Yol analizi bulgularına göre daha olumlu sağlık algısı ve yüksek sağlık okuryazarlığı düzeyi, sağlıklı yaşam becerileri aracılığı ile sağlık davranışlarında daha yüksek düzeyde değişiklik sağlamaktadır. Ayrıca, Twitter kullanımı pandemi sürecinde sağlık kaygısını arttırarak, sağlık davranışlarındaki değişimi arttırmıştır. Bulgular, üniversite öğrencilerinin COVID-19’dan korunmak için sağlık davranışlarını değiştirme motivasyonlarının daha iyi anlaşılmasına yardımcı olmuştur.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• Sağlık kaygısı
• Sağlık algısı
• sağlık okuryazarlığı
• sağlıklı yaşam becerileri
• Üniversite öğrencileri

Media Usage, Health Literacy, Health Anxiety, and Health Behaviors of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Living with the pandemic influenced people’s lifestyles and health behaviors as well as their use of media. The aim of this study is to investigate the level of change in health behaviors of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes in health behaviors refer to changes of mainly eating and exercise behaviors to stay healthy. In this study, media use, health literacy and health perception are the determinants of change in health behaviors; health anxiety and healthy living skills are considered as mediating variables. Questionnaires were filled in by 392 university students in Ankara, Turkey within the second month of the pandemic. According to the findings, as the levels of positive perception of health, health literacy level, health anxiety level, and healthy life skills increase, the level of change in health behavior increases. The path analysis revealed that more positive perceptions of health and higher levels of health literacy are related to higher levels of change in health behaviors through the mediation of healthy life skills. In addition, the use of Twitter increases health anxiety during the pandemic and results in a higher level of change in health behaviors. The findings help to better understand the motivations to change health behaviors for selfprotection against the COVID-19 among university students.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• Health Anxiety
• Perception of Health
• Health Literacy
• Healthy Life Skills
• University Students

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