Dataset Information

Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Online misinformation proliferation during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major public health concern. OBJECTIVE:We aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation exposure and beliefs, associated factors including psychological distress with misinformation exposure, and the associations between COVID-19 knowledge and number of preventive behaviors. METHODS:A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1049 South Korean adults in April 2020. Respondents were asked about receiving COVID-19 misinformation using 12 items identified by the World Health Organization. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for the association of receiving misinformation with sociodemographic characteristics, source of information, COVID-19 misinformation belief, and psychological distress, as well as the associations of COVID-19 misinformation belief with COVID-19 knowledge and the number of COVID-19 preventive behaviors among those who received the misinformation. All data were weighted according to the Korea census data in 2018. RESULTS:Overall, 67.78% (n=711) of respondents reported exposure to at least one COVID-19 misinformation item. Misinformation exposure was associated with younger age, higher education levels, and lower income. Sources of information associated with misinformation exposure were social networking services (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.20-2.32) and instant messaging (aOR 1.79, 1.27-2.51). Misinformation exposure was also associated with psychological distress including anxiety (aOR 1.80, 1.24-2.61), depressive (aOR 1.47, 1.09-2.00), and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (aOR 1.97, 1.42-2.73), as well as misinformation belief (aOR 7.33, 5.17-10.38). Misinformation belief was associated with poorer COVID-19 knowledge (high: aOR 0.62, 0.45-0.84) and fewer preventive behaviors (?7 behaviors: aOR 0.54, 0.39-0.74). CONCLUSIONS:COVID-19 misinformation exposure was associated with misinformation belief, while misinformation belief was associated with fewer preventive behaviors. Given the potential of misinformation to undermine global efforts in COVID-19 disease control, up-to-date public health strategies are required to counter the proliferation of misinformation.

SUBMITTER: Lee JJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7669362 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study.

Lee Jung Jae JJ Kang Kyung-Ah KA Wang Man Ping MP Zhao Sheng Zhi SZ Wong Janet Yuen Ha JYH O'Connor Siobhan S Yang Sook Ching SC Shin Sunhwa S

Journal of medical Internet research 20201113 11

<h4>Background</h4>Online misinformation proliferation during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major public health concern.<h4>Objective</h4>We aimed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation exposure and beliefs, associated factors including psychological distress with misinformation exposure, and the associations between COVID-19 knowledge and number of preventive behaviors.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1049 South Korean adults in April 2020. Re ...[more]

PMID: 33048825

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Project description:BackgroundTrust in science meaningfully contributes to our understanding of people's belief in misinformation and their intentions to take actions to prevent COVID-19. However, no experimental research has sought to intervene on this variable to develop a scalable response to the COVID-19 infodemic.ObjectiveOur study examined whether brief exposure to an infographic about the scientific process might increase trust in science and thereby affect belief in misinformation and intention to take preventive actions for COVID-19.MethodsThis two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial aimed to recruit a US representative sample of 1000 adults by age, race/ethnicity, and gender using the Prolific platform. Participants were randomly assigned to view either an intervention infographic about the scientific process or a control infographic. The intervention infographic was designed through a separate pilot study. Primary outcomes were trust in science, COVID-19 narrative belief profile, and COVID-19 preventive behavioral intentions. We also collected 12 covariates and incorporated them into all analyses. All outcomes were collected using web-based assessment.ResultsFrom January 22, 2021 to January 24, 2021, 1017 participants completed the study. The intervention slightly improved trust in science (difference-in-difference 0.03, SE 0.01, t1000=2.16, P=.031). No direct intervention effect was observed on belief profile membership, but there was some evidence of an indirect intervention effect mediated by trust in science (adjusted odds ratio 1.06, SE 0.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.12, z=2.01, P=.045) on membership in the "scientific" profile compared with the others. No direct nor indirect effects on preventive behaviors were observed.ConclusionsBriefly viewing an infographic about science appeared to cause a small aggregate increase in trust in science, which may have, in turn, reduced the believability of COVID-19 misinformation. The effect sizes were small but commensurate with our 60-second, highly scalable intervention approach. Researchers should study the potential for truthful messaging about how science works to serve as misinformation inoculation and test how best to do so.Trial registrationNCT04557241; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04557241.International registered report identifier (irrid)RR2-10.2196/24383.

Project description:BackgroundThe emergence of a new pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a unique challenge for public health (all age and sex groups).ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the adolescents' perceptions of preventive behaviors to avoid COVID-19 disease based on the health belief model (HBM).MethodThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 797adolescents (aged between 12 and 18 years old), who were 7th-12th -grade students of 24 randomly selected schools from 28th May to June 28, 2020 in Isfahan, Iran. An online self-administered questionnaire was adapted to measure the adolescents' perceived threats, barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and cues to action toward protective behaviors.ResultsFindings indicated that the adolescents' mean age was 14.7 (SD = 1.7) and 53.7% of them were female. Regardless of gender difference, there was a significant positive correlation between the adolescents' protective behaviors and their self-efficacy (r = 0.62, P < 0.001), perceived benefit (r = 29, P < 0.001), and perceived severity (r = 0.15, P < 0.001), while there was a significant negative correlation between the adolescents' protective behaviors and their perceived susceptibility (r = -0.11, P < 0.001), as well as their perceived barrier (r = -0.21, P < 0.001). The result of the Hierarchical regression analysis also revealed that the HBM model had a significant predictive power for preventing measures towards coronavirus disease in adolescents (Adj R2 = 0.46, p < 0.001). The results also showed that self-efficacy was the strongest predictor (β = 0.59, P < 0.001) in explaining protective behaviors in adolescents.ConclusionIn the context of coronavirus disease pandemic in adolescents, the health belief model could provide a useful framework for planners to develop educational programs. Moreover, in such a context, strategies to promote self-efficacy in adolescents should be considered more carefully to help them improve their protective behaviors.

Project description:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak spread to over 100 countries with a total of 100,000 cases during the first week of March 2020. Health care workers, as those on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, are more susceptible to infection. Inadequate related knowledge and preventive behaviors among health care workers might lead to delayed treatment and result in the rapid spread of the infection. Therefore, this study evaluated the knowledge of health care workers with regard to COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 10-18, 2020. Participants were general practitioners, specialists, and nurses working at the forefront of the pandemic. Their knowledge, preventive behaviors, and risk perceptions concerning COVID-19 were evaluated using an online questionnaire created by our medical specialists. The questionnaire consisted of 29, 5, and 4 items about COVID-19 knowledge, preventive behaviors, and risk perceptions, respectively. A total of 251 health care workers completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 33.88±8.72 years old, and the sample consisted of 68 males (27.08%) and 183 females (72.91%). While there was no difference between the percentage of correct answers given by female and male participants to knowledge-based questions (p>0.05), the percentage of correct answers to the questions on preventive behaviors was significantly higher in female participants than in males (p<0.001). The overall average percentages of correct responses were 91.66% for knowledge-based questions and 85.96% for preventive behavior questions. The scores for knowledge-based questions were higher for medical specialists, whereas nurses scored higher on preventive behavior questions. Government hospital staff showed a significant difference in preventive behaviors compared to that of university hospitals (p<0.05). In addition, there was a positive correlation between knowledge scores and preventive behaviors. Although all the participants (100%) knew that contracting COVID-19 can lead to death, only 66.93% of them were willing to get vaccinated themselves. The knowledge level of health care workers concerning COVID-19 was above 90%, but the level of competence in terms of preventive behaviors was found to be low, especially in males.

Project description:BackgroundSince its outbreak in January 2020, COVID-19 has quickly spread worldwide and has become a global pandemic. Social media platforms have been recognized as important tools for health-promoting practices in public health, and the use of social media is widespread among the public. However, little is known about the effects of social media use on health promotion during a pandemic such as COVID-19.ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to explore the predictive role of social media use on public preventive behaviors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic and how disease knowledge and eHealth literacy moderated the relationship between social media use and preventive behaviors.MethodsA national web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted by a proportionate probability sampling among 802 Chinese internet users ("netizens") in February 2020. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical multiple regressions were employed to examine and explore the relationships among all the variables.ResultsAlmost half the 802 study participants were male (416, 51.9%), and the average age of the participants was 32.65 years. Most of the 802 participants had high education levels (624, 77.7%), had high income >¥5000 (US $736.29) (525, 65.3%), were married (496, 61.8%), and were in good health (486, 60.6%). The average time of social media use was approximately 2 to 3 hours per day (mean 2.34 hours, SD 1.11), and the most frequently used media types were public social media (mean score 4.49/5, SD 0.78) and aggregated social media (mean score 4.07/5, SD 1.07). Social media use frequency (β=.20, P<.001) rather than time significantly predicted preventive behaviors for COVID-19. Respondents were also equipped with high levels of disease knowledge (mean score 8.15/10, SD 1.43) and eHealth literacy (mean score 3.79/5, SD 0.59). Disease knowledge (β=.11, P=.001) and eHealth literacy (β=.27, P<.001) were also significant predictors of preventive behaviors. Furthermore, eHealth literacy (P=.038) and disease knowledge (P=.03) positively moderated the relationship between social media use frequency and preventive behaviors, while eHealth literacy (β=.07) affected this relationship positively and disease knowledge (β=-.07) affected it negatively. Different social media types differed in predicting an individual's preventive behaviors for COVID-19. Aggregated social media (β=.22, P<.001) was the best predictor, followed by public social media (β=.14, P<.001) and professional social media (β=.11, P=.002). However, official social media (β=.02, P=.597) was an insignificant predictor.ConclusionsSocial media is an effective tool to promote behaviors to prevent COVID-19 among the public. Health literacy is essential for promotion of individual health and influences the extent to which the public engages in preventive behaviors during a pandemic. Our results not only enrich the theoretical paradigm of public health management and health communication but also have practical implications in pandemic control for China and other countries.

Project description:BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet has significantly spread information, providing people with knowledge and advice about health protection regarding COVID-19. While a previous study demonstrated that health and eHealth literacy are related to COVID-19 prevention behaviors, few studies have focused on the relationship between health literacy, eHealth literacy, and COVID-19-related health behaviors. The latter includes not only preventative behaviors but also conventional health behaviors.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop and verify a COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire, explore its status and structure, and examine the associations between these behaviors and participants' health literacy and eHealth literacy.MethodsA snowball sampling method was adopted to recruit participants to complete anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire surveys online that assessed sociodemographic information, self-reported coronavirus knowledge, health literacy, eHealth literacy, and COVID-19-related health behaviors.ResultsOf 1873 college students who were recruited, 781 (41.7%) had adequate health literacy; the mean eHealth literacy score was 30.16 (SD 6.31). The COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire presented a two-factor structure-COVID-19-specific precautionary behaviors and conventional health behaviors-with satisfactory fit indices and internal consistency (Cronbach α=.79). The mean score of COVID-19-related health behaviors was 53.77 (SD 8.03), and scores differed significantly (P<.05) with respect to residence, college year, academic major, family economic level, self-reported health status, having a family member or friend infected with coronavirus, and health literacy level. Linear regression analysis showed that health literacy and eHealth literacy were positively associated with COVID-19-specific precautionary behaviors (βhealth literacy=.149, βeHealth literacy=.368; P<.001) and conventional health behaviors (βhealth literacy=.219, βeHealth literacy=.277; P<.001).ConclusionsThe COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire was a valid and reliable measure for assessing health behaviors during the pandemic. College students with higher health literacy and eHealth literacy can more actively adopt COVID-19-related health behaviors. Additionally, compared to health literacy, eHealth literacy is more closely related to COVID-19-related health behaviors. Public intervention measures based on health and eHealth literacy are required to promote COVID-19-related health behaviors during the pandemic, which may be helpful to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection among college students.

Dataset Information

Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study.

Publications

Associations Between COVID-19 Misinformation Exposure and Belief With COVID-19 Knowledge and Preventive Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Online Study.

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