Media, Doctors, Friends or No One? Predictors of Credibility of Health Information Sources in Ukraine
Authors: Balashov Kostyantyn , Mohilnytskyi Andrii , Shevchenko Lyudmyla , Turianytsia Solomiya , Pasenko Maksym , Navolokina Alla , Doan Svitlana , Slabkiy Gennady , Hulchiy Olesya 
Published: November 2024

One of the most important scientific areas of healthcare in Ukraine is communication, which requires the active involvement of doctors as authoritative communicators. This will help to improve the medical literacy of the population, which is one of the key factors in the formation of social resistance to misinformation and infodemics. Trust in doctors is associated with higher values of the internal locus of control – the perception of one’s own responsibility for one’s health. At the same time, it is necessary to study in more detail which of the behavioral factors are independent predictors of higher authority, and which ones demonstrate statistically probable connections with the perception of authority due to the presence of correlation with independent factors.
The objective: to analyze the independent predictors of authority of health information sources for further use in the formation of information campaigns.
Materials and methods. The research used the results of a survey of a sample representative of Ukraine (n=402). The relationships between the frequency of using health information channels and their authority were analyzed. To determine the predictors of authority of traditional media, doctors, friends, or lack of authoritative sources of information on health issues, binary logistic regression models were formed. Demographic factors such as age, gender, place of residence, and level of education were used as controlled variables.
Results. The authority of doctors and physician-associated services is NOT related to the frequency of receiving information from doctors (BF=2.5), as well as from pharmacy staff (BF=0.7), friends (BF=0.3), or traditional mass media (BF=0.2-1.5). Doctors are considered more authoritative by individuals who more often receive health information from medical websites in social media (BF=663.5) and medical websites (BF=366.1), as well as from mobile applications (BF=161.9), from teachers (BF=85.1) and from the Internet (BF=6.4). The authority of traditional mass media is related to the frequency of receiving information from them: the following statistically probable relationships are established for TV (BF=61.9), radio (BF=72.5), print media (BF=71.8), pharmacy staff (BF=13.7) and e-mails (BF=6.9). The attributes which are associated with perceived authority of physicians include behavioral factors (locus of control), demographic factors (age), and health literacy. The level of physical activity and the proportion of smokers are not related to the perception of the authority of doctors.
Conclusions. Barriers in communication with a doctor encourage the population to switch to non-specialized, potentially less reliable sources of information. Strengthening the authority of healthcare professionals and building mutual trust is an important basis for ensuring effective and sustainable behavior change in the interests of health and strengthening the capacity of the healthcare system to respond to emergency situations.