Online Health News: Credibility Assessment Patterns, Health Literacy Level and Behavioural Responses among University Students

Lai, Syer Chian (2022) Online Health News: Credibility Assessment Patterns, Health Literacy Level and Behavioural Responses among University Students. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Health has become the headline across the headlines since the day the world faced a health crisis in 2019. Most people have become more dependent on new media to consume news, in this case health news is one of the information that can be received from electronic gadgets from time to time. Health is a prevalent topic in recent years which has forced many people to consume health news. On the other hand, the fast dissemination of health news not only increases convenience to consume information but also fake news to the receivers. Hence, the receivers also develop a few credibility assessment criteria to judge whether the health news is credible across all online platforms. Moreover, many studies have found that the individuals’ health literacy level is indirectly affecting the way they perceive online health news and information. Furthermore, there are various behavioural responses among receivers after consuming online health news. In this research, Malaysian university students (n=150) were the main research participants. Based on the data findings and interpretation, the researcher concludes that the Malaysian university students assess online health news credibility by looking at many different criteria other than traditional measurement of media credibility. In addition, the literacy level pertaining to health is above average among the Malaysian university students. The researcher also notices that Malaysian university students receive online health news from social media the most but they have more trust towards government websites and news websites. Other than that, Malaysian university students also show slightly more offline behaviours than online behaviours after consuming health news