This article examines the relationship between information consumption and mental health during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting a qualitative approach, we interviewed 39 people in British Columbia, Canada between October and December 2020. Interestingly, half of the participants did not want to seek out new information on COVID-19, making their early insights and initial confusion salient. While some individuals did desire up-to-date information on outbreaks and new risks, many expressed confusion over what was perceived to be an evolving landscape of public health policy and practice. Overall, our research found that capacity issues, information overload/fatigue, politics, distrust, and competing sources of news all contributed to a culture of confusion towards public health information. As a consequence, this confusion resulted in knowledge uncertainty about the virus, vaccinations, and the pandemic itself. Our findings highlight the need for a host of future projects that examine how citizens experience disempowerment and limited agency towards compliance with health and safety initiatives.

中文翻译：

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及时了解 COVID-19 信息：大流行初期的能力问题和知识不确定性

本文探讨了 COVID-19 大流行早期阶段信息消费与心理健康之间的关系。我们采用定性方法，于 2020 年 10 月至 12 月期间采访了加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的 39 人。有趣的是，一半的参与者不想寻找有关 COVID-19 的新信息，这使得他们早期的见解和最初的困惑变得突出。虽然有些人确实希望获得有关疫情和新风险的最新信息，但许多人对公共卫生政策和实践不断变化的情况表示困惑。总体而言，我们的研究发现，能力问题、信息过载/疲劳、政治、不信任和新闻来源的竞争都导致了对公共卫生信息的混乱文化。结果，这种混乱导致了有关病毒、疫苗接种和大流行本身的知识不确定性。我们的研究结果强调了未来需要开展一系列项目来研究公民如何经历权力被剥夺以及在遵守健康和安全举措方面的有限代理权。