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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the Covid-19 crisis at the level of individual information behavior among citizens from the German-speaking countries, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted among 308 participants gathered through convenience sampling in April and May 2020, focusing on how citizens changed their mix and usage intensity of information sources and according to which criteria they chose them during the Covid-19 crisis. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for testing central tendencies. Effect sizes were considered to support the interpretation. Findings: The results show first that the Covid-19 crisis has led to an increased demand for reliable information. This goes alongside a significant increased use of public broadcasting, newspapers and information provided by public organizations. Second, the majority (84%) of the participants reported being satisfied with the information supply during the Covid-19 crisis. Participants who were less satisfied with the information supply used reliable sources significantly less frequently, specifically public television, national newspapers and information provided by public organizations. Third, the amount of Covid-19-related information led some participants to a feeling of information overload, which resulted in a reduction of information seeking and media use. Originality/value: This paper is one of the first to analyze changes of information behavior patterns of individuals during crises in the current information environment, considering the diversity of resources used by individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A two-wave panel study during the first lockdown. • Excessive smartphone use at T1 predicts information overload at T2. • Information overload resulted in lower infection self-efficacy after one month. • Information overload at T1 increased excessive smartphone use at T2. • Infection self-efficacy did not predict information overload and excessive use. During the COVID-19-related lockdowns around the world, individuals received a permanent digital stream of information about the pandemic via their smartphones. We theorize that such excessive COVID-19-related smartphone use can affect information overload, i.e., the perception of being exposed to too much information about COVID-19. We also introduce the notion of infection self-efficacy, the feeling that one is able to control the likelihood of being infected. We conducted a two-wave panel survey among an adult sample in Austria (N T2 = 416) during the first lockdown in 2020. Findings of a metric measurement invariant structural equation model revealed that excessive smartphone use predicts information overload over time. Moreover, information overload resulted in lower infection self-efficacy after one month. Reciprocal effects showed that information overload at T1 also increased excessive smartphone use at T2, suggesting a spiral. However, infection self-efficacy did not predict information overload and excessive smartphone use over time. Our findings contribute to the literature on information processing mechanisms by providing clear evidence for the reciprocal relationship between excessive smartphone use and information overload over time. The findings are also important for health scholarship because they explain individuals' perceptions about whether they are able to protect themselves from COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly growing production of healthcare information - both scientific and popular - increasingly leads to a situation of information overload affecting all actors of the healthcare system and threatening to impede the adoption of evidence-based practice. In preparation for the 2015 Cochrane Colloquium in Vienna, we discuss the issues faced by three major actors of this system: patients, healthcare practitioners, and systematic reviewers. We analyze their situation through the concept of "filter failure", positing that the main problem is not that there is "too much information", but that the traditional means of managing and evaluating information are ill-suited to the realities of the digital age. Some of the major instances of filter failure are inadequate information retrieval systems for point-of-care settings, the problem of identifying all relevant evidence in an exceedingly diverse landscape of information resources, and the very basic lack of health information literacy, concerning not only the general public. Finally, we give an overview of proposed solutions to the problem of information overload. These new or adapted filtering systems include adapting review literature to the specific needs of practitioners or patients, technological improvements to information systems, strengthening the roles of intermediaries, as well as improving health literacy., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)