Information path and demand about H7N9 prevention among residents in Zhejiang province：a cross-sectional study

Objective To examine the ways through which the public acquires the information about H7N9 prevention and control as well as the demands for the information for conducting health education and information dissemination in the public effectively.Methods Using cluster sampling method, a questionnaire survey was conducted among China Unicom Mobile Internet users through short massage system(SMS) platform of China Unicom.Results We collected 7 115 eligible responses.For all responders, 99.96%got the information about H7N9 through television and 89.47%through internet mainly, with the ratios higher than trough crowd(32.00%), newspaper(28.12%) and radio(20.24%).The proportion of female getting information through crowd was higher than that of male(P<0.05).The proportion of people aged 25 years or older getting the information through internet and crowd was higher than the people in other age groups(P<0.05).There were 63.84%, 60.60%, 70.51%, 48.21%, and 41.86%of the responders who wanted to get the information about disease incidence, transmission route, precautionary approach, treatment, and insurance policy, respectively.The demand on information about treatment and precautionary approach in female responders was higher than that in the male(P<0.05).The demand on information about disease incidence, treatment, insurance policy and other information in the responders of different age groups was different(P<0.05).The proportions of the responders who wanted to get the information through internet, radio, newspaper, and the crowd were higher in the responders with college and above education and paid much more attention to information about disease incidence, transmission route, treatment, insurance policy and other information too.Conclusion It is a rapid way to recruit a large number of participants through mobile internet.We should make full use of television, internet and other means of information dissemination to improve the health education about H7N9 epidemic.