April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: COVID-19 Second Wave Information Behavior and Mental Health Outcomes among the Nepali Diaspora in the United States
The double-and triple-mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 with increased potency and transmissibility resulted in high infection rates and death in countries such as India and Nepal during the “second-wave” of the pandemic. By June 2021, there was an average of 633 new infections and 238 deaths per week in Nepal. With this surge, media outlets published disturbing information of chaotic scenes from the country such as desperate patients waiting for oxygen, overflowing hospitals and open crematoriums. At this time, approximately 200,000 Nepali were living in the United States. When disastrous events occur, people who are away and indirectly affected by it, seek information from various sources, such as during the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. Using the theoretical framework provided by Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB), or the type and amount of health information people seek, and Information Behavior, which has been used to understand how people seek, use and give information, this study aimed to understand how Nepalis in the U.S. sought, and managed information about COVID-19 second wave in Nepal. Additionally, being exposed to disaster information in one’s home country is shown to have adverse mental health impact. This study hypothesized that identification with the Nepali cultural identity and increased exposure to information from Nepal will negatively impact the mental health outcomes for Nepali diaspora. Method Using Qualtrics, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of Nepali immigrants. We assessed COVID-19 information sharing (Cronbach α = 0.92), information avoidance (α = 0.89), and information exploring (α = 0.85), and various online platforms accessed for COVID-19 information. We adapted the Asian-American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale to assess cultural identification. We measured mental health outcomes of anxiety, and perceived stress. Results A total of 235 people participated in the study, however, due to low completion rate, only 109 data points were usable for analysis. See Table 1 for details on demographic characteristics. Results showed that most participants (72.5%, n = 79) accessed COVID-19 information about Nepal on the newsfeed that appeared on their personal social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. As hypothesized, identifying with the Nepali culture and concurrent use of multiple online platforms significantly predicted information exploring (β = 0.27, p = 0.00) and information sharing (β = 0.24 p = 0.01). Additionally, as predicted, all information behavior was predictive of mental health outcomes. Information sharing significantly predicted anxiety (β = 0.41, p = 0.01) and perceived stress (β = 0.35, p = 0.02). Information avoidance was positively associate with anxiety (β = 0.20 p = 0.05) but information exploring was negatively associated with stress (β = -0.40, p = 0.01). Discussion The study makes an important contribution in understanding Nepali immigrants’ information behavior about the second-wave of COVID-19 in their home country – Nepal. This study demonstrates that higher exposure to disturbing information about COVID-19 in one’s home country and activities such as information exploring, sharing and avoiding has important implications to the mental health of this diaspora.