The Impact of Information Sources on COVID-19-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) among University Students: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

COVID-19 is an emerging respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus accompanied by a tsunami of misinformation and fake news. This can weaken the public health responses by affecting the COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the public. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was designed during the early stage of the pandemic to evaluate the KAP of Palestinian university students and their commonly used information sources. We found that the most trusted information source among students was the World Health Organization (WHO), followed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) briefings and healthcare workers, whereas social media was the most frequently used source of information. The participants exhibited a high level of COVID-19-related knowledge, having an average score of 8.65 (range: 0–10). In total, 76% avoided going to crowded places, and only 33% wore a mask while being outdoors. The vast majority (93%) checked the accuracy of COVID-19-related information before publishing it, 56% used the WHO and MoH briefings for fact-checking, and only 8% relied on healthcare workers. This was particularly the case for those who lived in refugee camps. This study provides an insight into the information sources used by Palestinian university students, the sources they trust, and the information formats they prefer. These results may help public health authorities to locate the information sources through which university students should be targeted. Efforts should be made to recommend healthcare workers as credible information sources. In this way, they will be able to prevent the spread of misleading information and provide high-quality information, especially within unconventional settings such as refugee camps.

Mental Health Burden of the Russian–Ukrainian War 2022 (RUW-22): Anxiety and Depression Levels among Young Adults in Central Europe

“…Digital news portals (82.8%) and social media networks (72.4%) were the most commonly used news outlets by our participants. Multiple prior studies found that social media platforms had been the most frequently used information source by Generation Z, even for health-related information and recommendations [ 44 , 45 ]. The current finding that digital news portals outperformed social media can be attributed to the questionable credibility of social media networks that may facilitate the dispersion of fake news, especially during conflict times [ 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”

Do Attitudes, Mental Health Status, and Interpersonal Factors Predict COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy at the Early Phase of the Pandemic? A Longitudinal Study in Chinese College Students

“…Furthermore, our participants were college students, for whom the Internet is the major source of social support. The Internet is also their major source of information ( Baker et al, 2021 ). Our finding indicates that providing supportive and timely information related to vaccines (informational support) via the Internet may enhance vaccine acceptance among college students.…”

Edukasi sebagai Penghalang Berita Hoaks tentang Covid-19

“…WHO telah menawarkan layanan bagi WhatsApp untuk menyangkal berita palsu tetapi sayangnya penyebaran informasi yang cepat dan viral di jejaring sosial telah begitu meluas. Pada akhirnya masyarakat menerima dan memahami informasi yang salah (Baker et al, 2021;Hillyard, Sinclair, Murphy, Casson, & Mulligan, 2021;Lee & You, 2022). Pengabdian ini bertujuan untuk membantu masyarakat dalam menyari informasi yang didapatkan terutama yang berasal dari media online.…”