Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jun 9, 2020
Date Accepted: Dec 7, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jan 5, 2021
Covid-19-induced “fear” in infoveillance studies: a pilot analysis of preliminary results
ABSTRACT
Background:
The World Health Organization named the phenomenon of misinformation spread through the social media “infodemics”, and recognized the need to curb it. Misinformation infodemics undermine not only population safety, but also compliance to the suggestions/prophylactic measures recommended in pandemics.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to review the impact of social media on general population fear in “infoveillance” studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
PRISMA protocol was followed and six out of twenty studies were retrieved, meta-analyzed, and had their findings presented in the form of a Forest plot.
Results:
The summary random and significant event rate was 0.298, 95% CI respectively 0.213 and 0.400, suggesting that social media-circulated misinformation related to COVID-19 triggered public fear and other manifestations.
Conclusions:
These findings merit special attention by public health authorities. Thus, “infodemiology” and Infoveillance are valid tools in the hands of epidemiologists to help prevent dissemination of false information, with potentially damaging effects.
Citation
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