An “Infodemic” with misinformation and mistrust among sampled university students during the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract EN

This study sought to examine the infodemic that occurred during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, the study attempted to explore trust vs.

mistrust and information vs.

misinformation related to the coronavirus among Al-Imam University administrative sciences students a month after the first case of COVID- 2019 was announced by the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia.

An electronic survey modeled after a previous study conducted in the context of the Ebola outbreak in 2018-2019 was constructed specifically for this research goal.

The survey was distributed to approximately 400 male and female students and was completed and returned by 100 students.

The questions covered 5 main areas: (mis)trust of authorities or information sources, types of information related to COVID-2019, types of misinformation related to COVID-2019, beliefs towards (mis)information related to COVID-2019, and finally reactions to such (mis)information.

The findings indicate that although both male and female college students showed a satisfactory level of information awareness, some misinformation is likely to have affected their behaviors with respect to taking proactive measures against the virus.

Two beliefs related to such misinformation are that COVID-19 does not exist in the real word and that it is just like any other undangerous flu.