Investigating the Information Practices of COVID Long-Haulers
We are investigating the information needs, practices, and experiences of people who have long COVID (“COVID long-haulers”) in order to learn more about their COVID-related information needs, the ways in which they have gone about fulfilling these needs, and their information-related experiences. We are also investigating the various types of factors that motivated or demotivated their COVID-related information seeking and use, the types of information-related barriers they encountered, and their thoughts about an ideal information source or technology that would have been most helpful for them. Our motivation for conducting this investigation is to uncover ways that we can better prepare — specifically from an information standpoint — for future pandemics, epidemics, and personal health crises, and help to ensure that everyone has convenient access to trustworthy information that is accurate, relevant, understandable, actionable, and useful at the time when they first experience the need for it and at the time when it can be of the most use to them.
Funded by the University of Maryland.
Duration:
5/2023 - Ongoing
Additional UMD Investigator(s):
Brooke Fisher-Liu (COMM Professor), and Sandra Crouse Quinn (SPH Professor), Miranda Downey (INFO PhD Student), Katherine Raymond (SPH Behavioral and Community Health Doctoral Student)