# Exploring the Association Between Digital Health Literacy and Burnout and Depression Among TV Journalists During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia

## TL;DR

This study examines how digital health literacy relates to burnout and depression among Serbian TV journalists during the pandemic.

## Contribution

It identifies specific associations between digital health literacy components and mental health outcomes in journalists.

## Key findings

- High burnout on emotional exhaustion was linked to health status and privacy protection.
- Depression was associated with sex, health status, and use of anti-anxiety medications.
- Burnout on personal accomplishment was connected to information searching and socioeconomic factors.

## Abstract

Introduction: As in other crises, during COVID-19 pandemic, journalists were under immense pressure to report precise scientific information in a timely manner, which may have had a negative influence on their mental health. There could be an association between the digital health literacy of journalists and their mental health. The aim of this article was to explore the association between digital health literacy and burnout and depression among journalists in Serbia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 180 journalists working on television with national coverage in Serbia. The main research instrument used was a questionnaire with four sections containing personal demographic information, the Digital Health Literacy Instrument, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results: A total of 30% participants were found to have high levels of burnout on the emotional exhaustion (EE) subscale. On the depersonalization (DP) subscale, 10.6% experienced high levels of burnout. On the personal accomplishment (PA) subscale, 38.3% of participants faced high levels of burnout. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed the association between high burnout on the EE scale and health status (OR: 0.597, 95% CI: 0.375–0.952) and protecting privacy (OR: 0.522, 95% CI: 0.311–0.875). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed the association between high burnout on the PA scale and information searching (OR: 0.255, 95% CI: 0.124–0.526), sex (OR: 2.594, 95% CI: 1.007–6.68), socioeconomic status (OR: 2.282, 95% CI: 1.133–4.595), and alcohol consumption (OR: 2.188, 95% CI: 1.004–4.769). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed associations between depression and sex (OR: 0.180, 95% CI: 0.059–0.548), health status (OR: 0.316, 95% CI: 0.160–0.626), the use of anti-anxiety medications (OR: 7.303, 95% CI: 3.167–16.840), information searching (OR: 0.432, 95% CI: 0.191–0.981), and protecting privacy (OR: 0.443, 95% CI: 0.233–0.841). Conclusions: Our study showed a negative association between different domains of burnout, depression, and scores on protecting privacy and information searching scales.