The Association between Types of COVID-19 Information Source and the Avoidance of Child Health Checkups in Japan: Findings from the JACSIS 2021 Study

Masafumi Ojio, Yuto Maeda, Takahiro Tabuchi and Takeo Fujiwara ()
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Masafumi Ojio: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
Yuto Maeda: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
Takahiro Tabuchi: Cancer Control Center, Osaka International Cancer Institute, Osaka 541-8567, Japan
Takeo Fujiwara: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-9

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can affect children’s well-being through mothers’ avoidance of health checkups for children due to media portrayal of the disease. This study investigated the association between the type of information source for COVID-19 received by mothers and the avoidance of their children’s health checkups. The study was an online-based survey, and the participants comprised 5667 postpartum women with children aged under 2 years during the study period. We analyzed the analytic sample and three groups of women with children aged 0–3 months, 4–6 months, and 6 months or older according to the timing of children’s health checkups in Japan. Among the participants, 382 women (6.7%) avoided their children’s health checkups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that mothers with children over 6 months who used magazines as an information source about COVID-19 tended to avoid their children’s health checkups (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 3.19; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.68–6.05) compared with those who did not. In contrast, those using public websites were less likely to avoid their children’s health checkups (aOR 0.58, 95% CI 0.43–0.77). This study showed that specific types of information source on COVID-19 could have varying effects on mothers’ decisions about their children’s health checkups.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; child health checkup; avoidance; information source; fear (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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