Review article
https://doi.org/10.37797/ig.40.4.3
Risk Perception Towards Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV, Cyberochondria and Health Literacy at the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic
Tanja Staraj Bajčić
orcid.org/0000-0001-8173-5145
; Institute of Public Health of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Rijeka
Iva Sorta-Bilajac Turina
; Department of Social Medicine, Teaching Institute for Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Rijeka
Ksenija Baždarić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2977-3686
; Department of Medical Informatics, University of Rijeka, School of Medicine, Rijeka
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present an overview of current scientific knowledge on the perception of the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, cyberochondria and health literacy with an emphasis on the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Croatia is still a low-risk country for the HIV epidemic, thanks in part to the establishment of 10 Centers for Voluntary, Anonymous and Free HIV Counseling and Testing (VCT). Risk perception of contracting a sexually transmitted disease is described as one's own assessment of the possibility of getting it. Health behaviors, and thus risk perception, can be explained by various models and theories, and one of the accepted models is the socio-cognitive model of health beliefs (Health Belief Model - HBM). Health literacy is defined as personal, cognitive, and social skills that determine an individual’s ability to access, understand, and use health data. Cyberchodria is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive research of health content over the Internet. The COVID-19 pandemic is a major event of the digital age, taking into account the disorder caused in all areas of life around the world. Due to the fear caused, it is a fertile ground for cyberochondria.
Keywords
COVID-19; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); cyberchondria; risk perception, health literacy
Hrčak ID:
254021
URI
Publication date:
18.3.2021.
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