Effect of COVID-19 Infodemic on Media Trust and Perceived Stress

Shamsudeen Ademola Sanni (Department of Computer Science (Information Science Cluster) Faculty of Science and Engineering University of Eswatini Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, Manzini Eswatini)
Neema Rajabu (Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Kampala International University, P. O. Box 9790, Gongolamboto, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.)
Chinecherem Umezuruike (Department of IT, School of Mathematics and Computing, Kampala International University, P. O. Box 2000, Kansanga, Kampala, Uganda.)
Lasisi Kamoru Alamu (Department of Telecommunication Engineering, Kampala International University, P. O. Box 2000, Kansanga, Kampala, Uganda.)

Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior
Vol. 6 No. 2 (2021)

Background: Health infodemic undermines public health response, results in poor observance of public health measures and costs lives. Health campaigns will not produce intended results without controlling misinformation. This study aimed to analyzed the correlation between infodemic, COVID-19 stress and media trust.Subjects and Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted using online structured questionnaire, from December 2020 to January 2021. A total of 470 participants among African twitter community were randomly selected for this study. The dependent variables were COVID-19 stress and media trust. The independent variable was while Infodemic serve. The data was analysed using Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient test.Results: COVID-19 stress  (r= 0.369; p<0.001) and media trust (r= 0.301; p<0.001) were correlated with infodemic and it was statistically significant.Conclusion: infodemic is correlated with COVID-19 stress and media trust.Keywords: infodemic, health communication, media trust, stress, COVID-19Correspondence: Sanni Shamsudeen Ademola. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineer­ing, University of Eswatini, Private Bag 4, Matsapha, manzana, Kingdom of Eswatini. Email: [e-mail]. Mobile: [phone].Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (2021), 06(02): 144-153DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.02.07