Effects of misinformation diffusion during a pandemic

Prandi, Lorenzo; Primiero, Giuseppe

doi:10.1007/s41109-020-00327-6

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…It was reported by a recent meta-analysis that the prevalence of anxiety among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic reached 13.9% [ 14 ], which was higher than the rate of 5% before the outbreak [ 15 ]. In addition, it indicated that approximately 24.9% of college respondents in China manifested psychological anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak, which was higher than previously reported as well [ 16 ]. There is usually a high prevalence of psychological symptoms among college students [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Prevalence and Factors for Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in China

Guan

Wei

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Background: Knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of college students remains limited. Our aim is to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and explore the potential risk and protective factors of anxiety. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was adopted and a total of 24,678 college students were included from Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, during February, 2020. Anxiety was assessed by using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder tool (GAD-7). Multiple logistic regression models were established for exploring potential factors of anxiety. Results: The overall prevalence of anxiety was 7.3%. After adjusting for potential confounders, sex, place of residence, worried level, fear level, cognitive levels, and behavior status were found to be associated with anxiety (p < 0.05). Students with positive preventive behaviors showed a protective effect against the anxiety symptoms compared to those with negative preventive behaviors. In contrast to the high-cognition category, participants at a low cognitive level were 14.9% more likely to present anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: This large-scale study assessed the prevalence of anxiety and its potential influencing factors among college students. It suggests that the government could strengthen health education related to COVID-19 and supervise the performance of preventive behaviors to handle anxiety.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Prevalence and Factors for Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in China

Guan

Wei

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Specifically, if measures are applied to contain the epidemic, the presence of misinformation has a negative impact on their effectiveness. When protection, distancing measures, and detection and isolation policies are not applied, misinformation increases the infection and death rates even in the presence of a full lockdown [ 54 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Positive correlations between the fact of relying only on social media or non-scientific platforms and non-evidence-based behaviour were documented [ 63 ]. Wearing masks, social distancing and lockdown measures were fundamental elements in buffering the negative effects of misinformation: by not applying them, the virus was spread and deaths increased [ 54 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irrational Beliefs about COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Magarini

Pinelli

Sinisi

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Since the emergence of the recent Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) and its spread as a pandemic, there has been a parallel spread of false and misleading information, known as an infodemic. The COVID-19 infodemic has induced distrust in scientific communities, governments, institutions and the population, and a confidence crisis that has led to harmful health behaviours, also impacting on mental health. The aim of this study is to provide a scoping review of the scientific literature about COVID-19-related misinformation and conspiracy theories, focusing on the construction of a conceptual framework which is useful for the interpretation of the conspiracy theory phenomenon surrounding COVID-19, and its consequences. Particular socio-environmental conditions (i.e., low educational level, younger age), psychological processes and attitudes (such as low levels of epistemic trust, the avoidance of uncertainty, extraversion, collective narcissism, and a conspiracy-prone mindset), and contextual factors (e.g., high levels of self-perceived risk and anxiety) seem to underpin the adherence to beliefs that are not solely the domain of paranoids and extremists but a widespread phenomenon that has caused important health, social and political consequences.

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“…The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the risk of an “infodemic” wherein an overwhelming amount of circulating information discredits professional advice and prevents accurate information from reaching its target audience ( WHO, 2020 ). Some studies have found that people's exposure to misinformation may be associated with their violation of epidemic prevention regulations or resistance to vaccination ( Lee et al, 2020 ; Hornik et al, 2021 ; Loomba et al, 2021 ; Prandi and Primiero, 2020 ), and the sources of this misinformation can be traced back to political leadership in the government. For example, one study found the name of former U.S. president Donald Trump appeared in 37.9% of misinformation conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic ( Evanega et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Government-sponsored disinformation and the severity of respiratory infection epidemics including COVID-19: A global analysis, 2001–2020

Lin

Chang

et al. 2022

Social Science & Medicine

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Internet misinformation and government-sponsored disinformation campaigns have been criticized for their presumed/hypothesized role in worsening the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We hypothesize that these government-sponsored disinformation campaigns have been positively associated with infectious disease epidemics, including COVID-19, over the last two decades. By integrating global surveys from the Digital Society Project, Global Burden of Disease, and other data sources across 149 countries for the period 2001–2019, we examined the association between government-sponsored disinformation and the spread of respiratory infections before the COVID-19 outbreak. Then, building on those results, we applied a negative binomial regression model to estimate the associations between government-sponsored disinformation and the confirmed cases and deaths related to COVID-19 during the first 300 days of the outbreak in each country and before vaccination began. After controlling for climatic, public health, socioeconomic, and political factors, we found that government-sponsored disinformation was significantly associated with the incidence and prevalence percentages of respiratory infections in susceptible populations during the period 2001–2019. The results also show that disinformation is significantly associated with the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of cases of COVID-19. The findings imply that governments may contain the damage associated with pandemics by ending their sponsorship of disinformation campaigns.

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Effects of misinformation diffusion during a pandemic

Cited by 16 publications

References 20 publications

Prevalence and Factors for Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in China

Prevalence and Factors for Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in China

Irrational Beliefs about COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Government-sponsored disinformation and the severity of respiratory infection epidemics including COVID-19: A global analysis, 2001–2020

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