Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2021
Intervening on Trust in Science to Reduce Belief in COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase COVID-19 Preventive Behavioral Intentions: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04557241 (Brief Informational Intervention for COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis), which is not on this map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Brief Informational Intervention for COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Psychological Inoculation for Credibility Assessment, Sharing Intention, and Discernment of Misinformation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of an online vaccine misinformation game for Arabic-speaking Australians: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Effects of a Video of Science Rejection by a Social Media Influencer and User Comments: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Game-based inoculation versus graphic-based inoculation to combat misinformation: a randomized controlled trial.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2023Trial
- Using Normative Language When Describing Scientific Findings: Randomized Controlled Trial of Effects on Trust and Credibility.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Increasing trust in science through a "Do Your Own Research" intervention.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Why we believe chatbots: trust calibration as a design problem.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Public Health Communication Challenges in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- No evidence for causal effects of trust in science on intentions for health-related behavior.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Online Interventions Addressing Health Misinformation: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Health conspiracy theories: a scoping review of drivers, impacts, and countermeasures.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Spatial multilevel analysis of individual, household, and community factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the Dominican Republic.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of COVID-19 Misinformation, Public Health Impacts, and Communication Strategies: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Beyond misinformation: developing a public health prevention framework for managing information ecosystems.The Lancet. Public health · 2024Review
- Belief updating when confronted with scientific evidence: Examining the role of trust in science.Public understanding of science (Bristol, England) · 2024Article
- Psychometric evaluation of the Trust in Science and Scientists Scale.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- A Co-Created Tool to Help Counter Health Misinformation for Spanish-Speaking Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Toward trustworthy COVID-19 interventions: Building vaccine trust through community-university partnerships.PloS one · 2024Article
- External relationships as implementation determinants in community-engaged, equity-focused COVID-19 vaccination events.Frontiers in health services · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTrust in science meaningfully contributes to our understanding of people's belief in misinformation and their intentions to take actions to prevent COVID-19. However, no experimental research has sought to intervene on this variable to develop a scalable response to the COVID-19 infodemic.
objectiveOur study examined whether brief exposure to an infographic about the scientific process might increase trust in science and thereby affect belief in misinformation and intention to take preventive actions for COVID-19.
methodsThis two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial aimed to recruit a US representative sample of 1000 adults by age, race/ethnicity, and gender using the Prolific platform. Participants were randomly assigned to view either an intervention infographic about the scientific process or a control infographic. The intervention infographic was designed through a separate pilot study. Primary outcomes were trust in science, COVID-19 narrative belief profile, and COVID-19 preventive behavioral intentions. We also collected 12 covariates and incorporated them into all analyses. All outcomes were collected using web-based assessment.
resultsFrom January 22, 2021 to January 24, 2021, 1017 participants completed the study. The intervention slightly improved trust in science (difference-in-difference 0.03, SE 0.01, t
conclusionsBriefly viewing an infographic about science appeared to cause a small aggregate increase in trust in science, which may have, in turn, reduced the believability of COVID-19 misinformation. The effect sizes were small but commensurate with our 60-second, highly scalable intervention approach. Researchers should study the potential for truthful messaging about how science works to serve as misinformation inoculation and test how best to do so.
trial registrationNCT04557241; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04557241. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/24383.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.