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Article: Associations between COVID-19 misinformation exposure and belief with COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors: cross-sectional online study

TitleAssociations between COVID-19 misinformation exposure and belief with COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors: cross-sectional online study
Authors
KeywordsCOVID-19
misinformation
infodemic
infodemiology
anxiety
Issue Date2020
PublisherJournal of Medical Internet Research. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.jmir.org/
Citation
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2020, v. 22 n. 11, p. article no. e22205 How to Cite?
AbstractBackground: 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.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/291034
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 5.8
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 2.020
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorLee, JJ-
dc.contributor.authorKang, KA-
dc.contributor.authorWang, MP-
dc.contributor.authorZHAO, SZ-
dc.contributor.authorWong, JYH-
dc.contributor.authorO’Connor, S-
dc.contributor.authorYang, SC-
dc.contributor.authorShin, S-
dc.date.accessioned2020-11-02T05:50:38Z-
dc.date.available2020-11-02T05:50:38Z-
dc.date.issued2020-
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Medical Internet Research, 2020, v. 22 n. 11, p. article no. e22205-
dc.identifier.issn1438-8871-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/291034-
dc.description.abstractBackground: 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.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherJournal of Medical Internet Research. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.jmir.org/-
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Medical Internet Research-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectCOVID-19-
dc.subjectmisinformation-
dc.subjectinfodemic-
dc.subjectinfodemiology-
dc.subjectanxiety-
dc.titleAssociations between COVID-19 misinformation exposure and belief with COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors: cross-sectional online study-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailLee, JJ: leejay@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWang, MP: mpwang@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWong, JYH: janetyh@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityLee, JJ=rp02239-
dc.identifier.authorityWang, MP=rp01863-
dc.identifier.authorityWong, JYH=rp01561-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.2196/22205-
dc.identifier.pmid7669362-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC33048825-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85096102360-
dc.identifier.hkuros318249-
dc.identifier.volume22-
dc.identifier.issue11-
dc.identifier.spagearticle no. e22205-
dc.identifier.epagearticle no. e22205-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000589270800004-
dc.publisher.placeCanada-
dc.identifier.issnl1438-8871-

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