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COVID-19 misinformation in Australia: key groups and trends over time in a national longitudinal survey
Kristen Pickles;
Erin Cvejic;
Brooke Nickel;
Tessa Copp;
Carissa Bonner;
Julie Leask;
Julie Ayre;
Carys Batcup;
Samuel Cornell;
Thomas Dakin;
Rachael H Dodd;
Jennifer MJ Isautier;
Kirsten J McCaffery
ABSTRACT
Background:
Misinformation about COVID-19 is common and has spread rapidly across the globe through social media platforms and other information systems. Understanding what the public know about COVID-19 and identifying beliefs based on misinformation can help shape effective public health communications to ensure efforts to reduce viral transmission are not undermined.
Objective:
To investigate prevalence and factors associated with COVID-19 misinformation in Australia, and changes over time.
Methods:
Adults 18 years and over completed a prospective national longitudinal survey in 2020 (n=4362 April; n=1882 May; n=1369 June).
Results:
Stronger agreement with misinformation was associated with younger age, male gender, lower education, and language other than English at home (all p<0.01). After controlling for these variables, misinformation beliefs were significantly associated (p<0.001) with lower digital health literacy, lower perceived threat of COVID-19, lower confidence in government, and lower trust in scientific institutions. Analyses of specific government-identified misinformation revealed 3 clusters: prevention (associated with men and younger age), causation (associated with lower education and greater social disadvantage), and cure (associated with younger age). Lower institutional trust and greater rejection of official government accounts were associated with greater agreement.
Conclusions:
These findings highlight important gaps in communication effectiveness, which must be addressed to ensure effective COVID-19 prevention.