Media exposure to health information and other determinants of trust in health information from mass media sources

Background: Trust in mass media sources of health information have been postulated to influence individual health knowledge, behaviors, and health status. The determinants of health media trust (HMT) are thus far not well-studied. Building on prior research, this paper describes the association between incidental health media exposure (HME) and HMT. The moderation of this relationship by trust in interpersonal (family and friends) and doctor sources of health information was also tested. Methods: Data from 18,510 participants in the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS), an ongoing national survey of adult Americans (aged 18 years and above), was analyzed. Using probability-weighted multivariate linear regression, this analysis estimated the effects of predictors on HMT (a scale of trust in health information from television, magazines, newspapers, and the internet; Cronbach's alpha=.83), controlling for potential confounders. Results: HMT in the sample population was moderate (M=2.67, SD=.61 on a scale of 1 to 4). Controlling for health status and demographic variables, the analysis showed that higher HME (B=.34, p<.001), trust in family and friends (B=.17, p<.001), and trust in doctors (B=.23, p<.001) were significantly associated with increased HMT. The interactions between HME and trust in non-media sources were negative, meaning that higher trust levels in non-media sources attenuated the effect of HME on HMT. Conclusion: Incidental HME and trust in non-media sources were positively associated with HMT and interacted negatively in their effects on HMT. Implications of these findings on further research investigating the mechanisms and on public health communication practice will be discussed.