| Title |
Characterizing the health and information-seeking behaviours of Ontarians in response to the Zika virus outbreak
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Canadian Journal of Public Health, March 2018
|
| DOI | 10.17269/s41997-018-0026-9 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Janet Randle, Mark Nelder, Doug Sider, Karin Hohenadel |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of the 2016 Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak on the health-seeking and information-seeking behaviours of Ontarians. A timeline that included events and announcements from health agencies was constructed to describe the unfolding of the ZIKV outbreak between January 1 and September 30, 2016. In order to gain an understanding of the information and health-seeking behaviours of Ontarians, data from the following sources were collected and analyzed descriptively over time in 1-week intervals: trends in web searches, calls to a provincial telemedicine advice line, test submissions to the provincial laboratory and Zika-related media coverage. The World Health Organization's declaration that the ZIKV outbreak was a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) prompted a surge in media coverage peaking at 165 articles in a 1-week period. Concurrently, the frequency of Zika-related web searches was at its highest over the time period of the study, weekly telemedicine calls requesting Zika-related information were at their highest (177 calls/week) and requests for laboratory testing increased (162 patients submitting specimens/week). Understanding the public response to novel and re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks as they unfold has the potential to facilitate timely public messaging for disease prevention, enable resource planning and inform effective public health action. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | 17% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 17% |
| Unknown | 4 | 67% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 5 | 83% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 17% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 42 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 42 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 7 | 17% |
| Researcher | 7 | 17% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 7% |
| Other | 2 | 5% |
| Other | 5 | 12% |
| Unknown | 13 | 31% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 4 | 10% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 4 | 10% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 7% |
| Social Sciences | 3 | 7% |
| Arts and Humanities | 2 | 5% |
| Other | 9 | 21% |
| Unknown | 17 | 40% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 April 2019.
All research outputs
#14,135,105
of 23,094,276 outputs
Outputs from Canadian Journal of Public Health
#832
of 1,183 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#182,267
of 332,114 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Canadian Journal of Public Health
#14
of 31 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,094,276 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,183 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.4. This one is in the 29th percentile – i.e., 29% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,114 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 31 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 51% of its contemporaries.