The context of infodemic and necessity of preventive behavior (Roy et al., 2020) demands for studies of the role of news in compliance including health priming (Gibbons, 2003, Pechmann, 1999). Especially important is a topic the effect of news about traditional and alternative medicine (Furnham, Forey, 1994) their impact on subjective compliance.

The aim was to study the relationship to medicine and subjective compliance in people with hypochondriac beliefs after priming by negative news about traditional and alternative medicine.

122 healthy adults (56 males, mean age 40.7±13.6) were randomized to conditions (control, negative news about traditional medicine, negative news about alternative medicine); then they read and appraised four news (in two experimental groups one of them was about medicine); filled changes in emotions after reading (PANAS, Carver et al., 1989), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 2018), checklist of relationship to medicine and compliance.

Moderation analysis indicates that in people with higher hypochondriac beliefs negative news about alternative medicine lead to lower readiness to use these methods but also to comply with any medical recommendations (p<.01). In people with higher hypochondriac beliefs negative news about traditional medicine decrease readiness to use it but not alternative medicine (p<.01).

Negative news about formal medicine situationally decrease readiness to use it while negative news about alternative medicine situationally decrease any readiness for treatment. Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.

Although cyberchondria was suggested as a separate phenomenon (Starcevic, Berle, 2013, Starcevic, 2017), it is by definition related to both health anxiety, general hypochondriac beliefs and behavior and Internet use (Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011, Eastin and Guinsler, 2006, Singh and Brown 2014).

The aim was to reveal relationship between cyberchondria in adult Internet users, Internet use and hypochondriac beliefs and behavior.

126 adults (18-70 years old) filled The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS, McElroy, Shevlin, 2014), checklist of activities about health online, Scale for Assessing Illness Behavior (Rief et al., 2001), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 1998).

Compulsion, Distress, Excessiveness, Reassuarance Seeking scales are related to various health-related activities online including both specialized (medical web-sites) and non-specialized (Wikipedia) ones (r=.25-.48, p<.01). Compulsion is closely related to surfing in social networks (r=.41, p<.01), excessiveness – to viewing of illnesses-related pictures (r=.48, p<.01) and reassurance seeking – to reading of online reports (r=.47, p<.01). Cyberchondria is related both to health anxiety (r=.37), hypochondriac behavior (r=.19-.41), beliefs about autonomic sensations, bodily weakness, intolerance to sensations and somatosensory ampliphication (r=.25-.31).

In general population, different aspects of cyberchondria seem to reflect health anxiety and hypochondriac beliefs but are differently related to different forms of online behavior including use of more or less specialized web-sites. Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.