An Infodemia Experience from the First Months of the Pandemic, Turkey

Abstract

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects are still ongoing. The present study was aimed to determine the status of participants in Turkey regarding whether they believe the rumors about COVID-19 in the first months of the pandemic, obtain information about their implementation of the protection measures of the Ministry of Health, and identify their perceptions on ending the pandemic in Turkey and the World. Materials and Methods: A survey containing some questions about COVID-19 which designed as descriptive epidemiological research was applied to 694 individuals between the ages of 18 and 65, who lived in Turkey and actively used their social media accounts. Descriptive statistics were used in summarizing the data, whereas chi-square analysis was used in the comparison of the groups. In statistical analysis, the significance value was accepted as p<0.05. Results: The lowest percentage of believing the misinformation on COVID-19 among the participants (38.4%) is "Regularly rinsing the mouth and nose with saline water prevents the new coronavirus disease". The percentage of the healthcare workers who believed the false information about COVID-19 was significantly lower (p=0.004, p<0.001, and p<0.001, respectively) but not at the desired level. In terms of ending COVID-19, the future predictions of the participants were more optimistic for Turkey than all over the world. Conclusion: There was the spread of false information among the participants, and this was not at the desired level, even among the healthcare workers

Keywords

• covid-19
• misinformation
• optimistic
• rumor.
• measurement