COVID19 infodemic – a tsunami of health literacy issues

This week on the blog, Dr Evelyn McElhinney (@evmcelhinney), Senior Lecturer in Advanced Practice at Glasgow Caldedonian University and Chair-Elect of Health Literacy UK (@literacyhealth) discusses the impact of the present pandemic on health literacy needs and the way we as nurses will help.

In February 2020, on the Munich Security Conference, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), discussed the term Infodemic in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating:

“…we are not only fighting the epidemic; we are fighting the infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and easier than this virus and is just as dangerous” (https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/munich-security-conference).

In the context of Covid-19, this infodemic has generated an unlimited amount of data, a few of which comes from official government public health information web sites. Often, nevertheless, misinformation based on rumors, conspiracy theories or a misunderstanding of official advice or research is spread, particularly through social media. Given that it is a public health event, it has a huge effect on people’s health knowledge. Health literacy is the flexibility to access, evaluate, understand, and use information and social resources to make health decisions aimed toward maintaining or changing health behaviors (Nutbeam, 1998; Sørensen et al., 2012). Health literacy is viewed as a modifiable social determinant of health that may be improved through interventions. The current infodemic is causing a tsunami of health literacy problems through confusing messaging or information design, even from official web sites. In the UK, official government information via the devolved nations is usually designed otherwise, has barely different messages and has to alter rapidly depending on the stage of the pandemic. This exacerbates what the general public may perceive as conflicting advice, even from official sources, making a “four-nation infodemic.” The UK Government and devolved nations have tried to curb disinformation through each day briefings, updates and social media and media campaigns. At the worldwide level, the World Health Organization has produced several reports https://iris.paho.org/bitstream/handle/10665.2/52052/Factsheet-infodemic_eng.pdf?sequence=14 and even organized a world online conference https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/06/30/default-calendar/1st-who-infodemiology-conference Social media firms have pledged to attempt to block or remove misinformation. However, this just isn’t all the time possible as posts on social media can spread quickly before being deleted or debunked https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52903680 .

On knowledgeable and private level, nurses and other healthcare professionals should strive to share credible information through local methods and thru online/social media spaces. Where even official announcements cause confusion, health professionals have the chance to assist people understand the message, to enhance other people’s health knowledge or to point them to reliable information. This includes “amplifying” disinformation spread through their personal social media platforms and reminding or helping people to research or confirm the source of data before spreading it through social networks. Confirmation or a advice from a trusted friend, especially if the person is perceived as a “trusted” health care skilled, will help slow or speed up the spread of misinformation. Alternatively, confirming or recommending information is usually a powerful boost. However, it will be significant to keep in mind that not everyone may have access to digital devices or online resources, so even sharing information through conversations with family, friends and offline social networks is very important to enable improvements in health literacy, ensuring that inequalities in access don’t increase .

Of course, nurses and other health care professionals will help promote health literacy and stop the infodemic in other ways, by undertaking research, publishing, or advising health care organizations on health literacy principles. This is all the time necessary, but never more so in these extraordinary times by which we live.

Nutbeam, D. (1998) ‘Dictionary of health promotion’, Health Promotion International, 13, 4, 349-64.

Sørensen, K., Van den Broucke, S., Fullam, J. et al. Health literacy and public health: A scientific review and integration of definitions and models. BMC Public Health 12, 80 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-80

From pandemic to infodemic https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_20_1000

World Health Organization video How to guard yourself during a pandemic https://youtu.be/E5Egi0nuDEs

Tangcharoensathien V, Calleja N, Nguyen T, Purnat T, D’Agostino M, Garcia-Saiso S, Landry M, Rashidian A, Hamilton C, AbdAllah A, Ghiga I, Hill A, Hougendobler D, van Andel J, Nunn M, Brooks I, Sacco PL, De Domenico M, Mai P, Gruzd A, Alaphilippe A, Briand S. J Med Internet Res 2020;22(6):e19659 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/19659

Slides and video from the EHMA webinar: Health systems and literacy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic https://ehma.org/webinar-health-systems-health-literacy-covid-19/ and video https://youtu.be/ZOiKvx-hyLQ

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