# Health information anxiety in social media users during public health emergencies: A qualitative comparative analysis using attribution theory

## TL;DR

This study explores how health information anxiety develops in social media users during public health crises, identifying key factors like event severity and information overload.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel framework using Three-Dimensional Attribution Theory and QCA to analyze health information anxiety during emergencies.

## Key findings

- Health information anxiety arises from the interaction of individual, informational, and situational factors.
- Six key factors, including event severity and information overload, significantly contribute to severe anxiety.
- The situational dimension has the most decisive impact on generating health information anxiety.

## Abstract

This article investigates the mechanisms influencing health information anxiety among social media users during sudden public health emergencies, aiming to provide insights for managing social media users’ negative emotions in such contexts. By employing literature analysis and case studies and integrating Three-Dimensional Attribution Theory, the factors contributing to health information anxiety are classified into individual, informational, and situational dimensions. Questionnaire data were gathered via scenario simulation, and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method was used to validate causal configurations leading to health information anxiety among social media users. The findings indicate that, within the context of sudden public health emergencies, the emergence of health information anxiety is the result of the interplay among individual, situational, and informational dimensions. Specifically, six key factors, including event severity, involvement, textual sentiment, collective emotions, information overload, and information asymmetry, are identified as playing a critical role in the development of severe health information anxiety. Notably, the situational dimension is found to exert a crucial and decisive influence on the generation of health information anxiety among social media users.