Open AccessInformation behaviour of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia
Author(s) -
Besiki Stvilia,
AUTHOR_ID,
Ketevan Stvilia,
Izoleta Bodokia,
AUTHOR_ID,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
information research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.397
H-Index - 49
ISSN - 1368-1613
DOI - 10.47989/irpaper910
Subject(s) - pandemic , government (linguistics) , covid-19 , personally identifiable information , information dissemination , information sharing , information seeking , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychology , internet privacy , medicine , family medicine , political science , computer science , disease , world wide web , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , library science
. In this study, we examined the information behaviour of people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia. The research took place before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Methods. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants. Analysis. The content of interviews was analysed for a priori and emergent themes and iteratively categorized. In addition, we used k-means clustering to identify the types of information users. Results. People living with HIV used government AIDS and CDC centres, primary care physicians, television, websites and their personal networks as their information sources. Some participants reported that receiving COVID-19 information increased their stress levels. Threats to their privacy and the fear of disclosing their HIV-positive status were identified as some of the barriers to seeking and sharing information they encountered. Three types of information users were identified: Netizens, Traditionalists and Lurkers. Conclusions. The findings of this study can be used to help design effective health communication campaigns and information systems for people living with HIV in general and to provide COVID-19 information in particular.