Fake News and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Repercussions on Nursing Assistance

Abstract

Objective: To carry out a theoretical reflection on how fake news related to the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on health and nursing care. Method: theoretical-reflective study about fake news related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on health and nursing care. To search for articles/texts, the descriptors Fake News, COVID-19, Coronavirus Infections, Health Repercussions extracted from Descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were used in Portuguese and English. and the keyword Repercussions in Nursing. The search took place in scientific databases and databases, with a thorough reading of articles related to the theme. Results and Discussion: Three guiding points/categories were elaborated to support the theoretical-reflective text of this article: “The Fake News in the COVID-19 pandemic”; “Some interferences of Fake News in the population”, with four subdivided categories and the last category “The impact on nursing care.” Final considerations: discrediting the recommendations of health professionals, especially nurses, had an impact on their health due to the stress they experienced, the disrespect and the violence they suffered, in the face of disbelief in relation to the correct guidelines that they verbalized and followed. It is understood that educational programs to stimulate critical thinking and online behavior are important strategies for the management of Fake News, helping to further prevent the dissemination of erroneous information about relevant topics related to the pandemic.

Reasons for Fake News Dissemination: A Systematic Review

“…al., 2021;Kumar et. al., 2022;Lampos et al, 2020;Robazzi et al, 2022). The third sub-theme is conspiracy and speculation sharing.…”

“…al., 2022). However, most conspiracies and speculations are not credible sources because they are never or difficult to verify and a study by Robazzi et. al (2022) proves that conspiracy and speculation cause disconnections in communities and psychological problems.…”

“…al., 2021). Weak media literacy results in the inability to assess and analyse media messages which then makes them believe whatever news they received without reflecting and taking action on its authenticity (Robazzi et. al, 2022;Cinelli et.…”