Effect of COVID-19 Infodemic on Media Trust and Perceived Stress

Ademola, Sanni Shamsudeen; Rajabu, Neema; Umezuruike, Chinecherem; Alamu, Lasisi Kamoru

doi:10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.02.07

Cited by 1 publication

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Fake news is hard to fight not only because it can spread quickly on social media, but there is often a political and financial motive to share such information (Adebisi et al 2021b ; Ademola et al 2021 ). Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in scams related to treatment, medication, testing and vaccines on social media.…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The importance of this public health threat becomes clear when one considers the correlation between an infodemic and COVID-19-related stress, suggesting that the infodemic is dangerous to one’s health and could affect healthy living in the long run (Shobowale 2021 ). Fake news often increases public anxiety, anger and frustration around these topics, that may lead to poor compliance by the public to protect themselves from COVID-19 (Ademole et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are concerns if social media sites can be trusted to make these changes if it will affect their profitability (Zenone et al 2023 ). Governments and public health agencies need to confront misinformation on social media and put in place policies and mechanisms to deal with the issue and bring those who are responsible for creating and spreading misinformation to justice (Ademole et al 2021 ). Actions such as maintaining an official social media presence, making use of public opinion leaders in the fight against misinformation, and creating tools to facilitate the easy spread of accurate information will have a far-reaching effect to mitigate misinformation on social media (Shobowale 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 2021 Saharan Africa (Cameroon Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda) COVID-19 Ebola and HIV Facebook and WhatsApp Quantitative- Cross sectional survey Misinformation, infodemic 22 Acuto, M., Dickey, A., Butcher, S. & Washbourne, C.L., 2021, ‘Mobilising urban knowledge in an infodemic: Urban observatories, sustainable development and the COVID-19 crisis’, World Development 140, 105295. 2021 Johannesburg, Karachi, Freetown and Bangalore COVID-19 Digital media from urban observatories Qualitative – case studies Infodemic, urban observatories 23 Ademola, S.S., Rajabu, N., Umezuruike, C. & Alamu, L.K., 2021 , ‘Effect of COVID-19 infodemic on media trust and perceived stress’, Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior 6(02), 143–152. 2021 Africa COVID-19 Twitter Quantitative – Cross sectional study Infodemic, health communication, media trust 24 Chimoyi, L., Mabuto, T., Dube, T., Ntombela, N., Nchachi, T., Tshisebe, D. et al, 2021, ‘The geography of COVID-19 misinformation: Using geospatial maps for targeted messaging to combat misinformation on COVID-19, South Africa’, BMC Research Notes 14(1), 1–6.…”

Section: Table 1-a1mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A structured literature review of the health infodemic on social media in Africa

Hove,

Cilliers

2023

Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

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Infodemics is a multi-faceted threat that needs to be dealt with by governments during public health emergencies. This strategic review described the role of social media platforms in creating and reinforcing an infodemic during health pandemics in Africa. The inclusion criteria for the review were African research on infodemics on social media during pandemics, epidemics or endemics in the past 10 years. A structured literature review, making use of the Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research (SPIDER) scoping review methodology framework, identified scholarly publications from various academic databases. A total of 41 articles met the eligibility criteria. The six factors identified included stakeholders, socio-economic context, conspiracy theories, sources of information, government responses and verification mechanisms. The findings of this study indicate that governments needs to include infodemics in the risk communication strategy for public health emergencies. Verification of misinformation can mitigate the effects of conspiracy theories while the socio-economic context of the audience will influence planning strategies to mitigate infodemics on social media. Contribution This study contributes to the knowledge base of risk communication during pandemics in Africa by providing a review of how infodemics on social media have influenced the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent. The results also provide a foundation for the research agenda in this research field that will provide an evidence-based response to the pandemic in Africa.

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Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%