Social media has been widely adopted by young adults, consequently health researchers are looking for ways to leverage this engagement with social media for the delivery of interventions and health promotion campaigns. Further interdisciplinary research is also warranted to identify effective and tailored interventions to counter the spread of health-related misinformation online. Future research should examine susceptibility of different sociodemographic groups to misinformation and understand the role of belief systems on the intention to spread misinformation. Most studies employed content analysis, social network analysis or experiments, drawing on disparate disciplinary paradigms. Studies adopted theoretical frameworks from psychology and network science, while co-citation analysis revealed potential for greater collaboration across fields. The most extensively studied topics involving misinformation relate to vaccination, Ebola and Zika Virus, although others, such as nutrition, cancer, fluoridation of water and smoking also featured. Overall, we observe an increasing trend in published articles on health-related misinformation and the role of social media in its propagation. A total of 57 articles were included for full-text analysis. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus and Google databases to identify relevant methodological and empirical articles published between 20. In order to uncover the current evidence and better understand the mechanism of misinformation spread, we report a systematic review of the nature and potential drivers of health-related misinformation. In democracies where ideas compete in the marketplace for attention, accurate scientific information, which may be difficult to comprehend and even dull, is easily crowded out by sensationalized news. While examples of the rapid spread of misinformation date back to the earliest days of scientific medicine, the internet, by allowing instantaneous communication and powerful amplification has brought about a quantum change. Although affecting all areas of life, it poses particular problems in the health arena, where it can delay or prevent effective care, in some cases threatening the lives of individuals. A dietitian was trusted most as a source of nutrition information.Ĭontemporary commentators describe the current period as "an era of fake news" in which misinformation, generated intentionally or unintentionally, spreads rapidly. However, the majority lack skill in determining information accuracy on SM. The participants engaged with nutrition information on SM and understood what evidenced-based nutrition information is. Although 91% understood what evidence-based nutrition information means, 77% of participants struggled to determine the accuracy of nutrition information on SM, with females indicating significantly more difficulty than males (chi2 = 39, p < 0.001). Relatability (87%) was a characteristic that motivated participants to follow SM influencers and 16% trusted claims from health influencers on SM. Participants felt most comfortable following a registered dietitian (64%) for accurate nutrition information. The preferred nutrition content was ‘what to eat in a day’ (83%). A minority (17%) of participants ‘actively’ turn to SM for nutrition information, while the majority (54%) engaged only if it happened to appear on their feed. Females used SM significantly more than males (p < 0.001) and participants living in shared accommodation used SM significantly less than those in other living arrangements (p < 0.001). Of 2 318 participants (69% female), 1 615 used SM to access nutrition information, with YouTube being the most used platform for this purpose (96%). Undergraduate students (18–25 years) registered at Stellenbosch University (2021), South Africa (n = 2 318). The survey was completed by students from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. A p < 0.05 indicates statistical significance. Descriptive statistics and relevant inferential statistics were used. Data were collected from 2 318 participants using a content- and face-validated self-administered online questionnaire. The study aimed to assess the use of SM as a platform for obtaining nutrition information and how the accuracy thereof is evaluated.Ī descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical component was conducted. Nutrition misinformation is, however, prevalent on SM due to lack of professional gatekeeping of this user-generated content. There is an increase in young people’s engagement with social media (SM), specifically nutrition information.
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