COVID-19, social media use and anxiety: more complex than it might appear?

Abstract

Design Cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 403 dental healthcare workers.Sample selection Snowball sampling via social media.Data analysis Descriptive analysis of sample. Bivariate analysis of the relationship between demographic variables, social media use and anxiety. Binary logistic regression analysis predicting: 1) use of social media; and 2) general anxiety.Results 1) Social media use was predicted by moderate/severe anxiety level; 2) general anxiety level was predicted by being female and more frequent social media use.Conclusions The authors conclude that social media reporting of COVID-19 information had adversely affected the psychological wellbeing of dental healthcare workers.