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

Dilek Demirtepe-saygılı; Elif Eşiyok; Eda Turancı

doi:10.17829/turcom.862102

Research Article

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

Year 2021, Issue: 38, 19 - 34, 31.12.2021

Dilek Demirtepe-saygılı Elif Eşiyok Eda Turancı

https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.862102

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

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

Year 2021, Issue: 38, 19 - 34, 31.12.2021

Dilek Demirtepe-saygılı Elif Eşiyok Eda Turancı

https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.862102

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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Primary Language	English
Subjects	Communication and Media Studies
Journal Section	Research Articles
Authors	Dilek Demirtepe-saygılı 0000-0002-4644-9570 Elif Eşiyok 0000-0001-9486-7067 Eda Turancı 0000-0002-2539-8452
Publication Date	December 31, 2021
Submission Date	January 15, 2021
Published in Issue	Year 2021 Issue: 38

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APA	Demirtepe-saygılı, D., Eşiyok, E., & Turancı, E. (2021). Media Usage, Health Literacy, Health Anxiety, and Health Behaviors of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi(38), 19-34. https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.862102

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