ArticleJournal of multidisciplinary healthcare2022
The Impact of the COVID-19 "Infodemic" on Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Article in Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychosocial predictors of mental well-being in higher education students: a comprehensive approach.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Towards Cyberchondria: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Italian Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social media crisis communication and public engagement during COVID-19 analyzing public health and news media organizations' tweeting strategies.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Evolution of Spanish population well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the COSMO-Spain study.Heliyon · 2025Article
- Beyond borders: investigating the impact of the 2023 conflict in Gaza on generalized anxiety disorders and associated somatic symptoms and wellbeing among the Kuwait population: a global call for public intervention programs.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Does Cyberchondria Influence Subjective Well-Being in Online Healthcare platforms?-An Empirical Study.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Article
- Cross-country validation of the Arabic version of the WHO-5 Well-Being Index in non-clinical young adults from six Arab countries.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- The persuasive effects of social cues and source effects on misinformation susceptibility.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Mapping automatic social media information disorder. The role of bots and AI in spreading misleading information in society.PloS one · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on public social life and mental health: a statistical study of google trends data from the USA.Journal of applied statistics · 2024Article
- COVID-19 Infodemic and Impacts on the Mental Health of Older People: Cross-sectional Multicenter Survey Study.JMIR aging · 2023Article
- Article
- COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Social Media Users: A Content Analysis, Multi-Continent Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- COVID-19 and theHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The relationship between transmission misinformation, COVID-19 stress and satisfaction with life among adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis in the world of information and digital literacy. The amount of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 that has circulated through social media (SM) since January 2020 is notably significant and has been linked to rising levels of anxiety and fear amongst SM users.
aimThis study aimed to assess SM practices during COVID-19 and investigated their impact on users' well-being.
methodsAn online survey was distributed between June 10 and July 31 2020 via different SM platforms in the United Arab Emirates and other Arabic-speaking countries. Adults above 18 years of age who spoke Arabic or English were invited to complete the survey which covered multiple domains, use and practices related to social media platforms and mental health questions, including the WHO-5 Well-Being Index.
resultsOut of 993 participants, 73% were females, 76% were non-Emirati, 91% were university graduates, and 50% were employed in various occupations, of which 20% were health care professionals. Participants indicated that they acquired COVID-19 related information primarily from social media and messaging applications of which WhatsApp was the most used. Most participants reported sharing information after verification. The mean well-being score was 12.6 ±5.6, with 49% of participants reporting poor well-being (WHO-5 score <12.5). Adjusted linear regression showed that Facebook usage was negatively associated with well-being scores. Additionally, high time use was associated with poorer well-being. When adjusting for other factors, including low confidence in information around COVID-19 and poor knowledge overall, SM usage was significantly associated with poorer well-being.
conclusionThe study sheds light on the use of SM during the pandemic and its impact on well-being throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic. Social media practices during emergencies and disasters may impact public well-being. Authorities are advised to step in to minimize the spread of misinformation and more frequent use of social media as it may influence well-being. Public health specialists, information technology and communication experts should collaborate to limit the infodemic effect on communities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.