Agreement with COVID-19 disinformation among Portuguese-speaking older adults: an international study

Oliveira, Rodrigo Mota de; Araújo, Agostinho Antônio Cruz; Araújo, Pricila Oliveira de; Sousa, Anderson Reis de; Oliveira, Layze Braz de; Sena, Inara Viviane de Oliveira; Sousa, Álvaro Francisco Lopes de; Mendes, Isabel Amélia Costa

doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2023-0091

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Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. Bras. Enferm. 76 (Suppl 1) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2023-0091 copy

Agreement with COVID-19 disinformation among Portuguese-speaking older adults: an international study

Concordancia con contenido de desinformación relacionado con COVID-19 en personas mayores de habla portuguesa: estudio internacional

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objectives:

to assess agreement with COVID-19 disinformation among Portuguese-speaking individuals aged 50 years or older.

Methods:

a descriptive and analytical study involving 1,214 older adults born in Portuguese-speaking countries. Data collection occurred through online information mining to recognize COVID-19 and disinformation content, and the application of a structured questionnaire.

Results:

agreement with disinformation content was 65.2%. Residing outside Brazil is a protective factor for agreement with disinformation content, and those who believe in the truthfulness of the information sources they receive were 31% more likely to agree with disinformation content.

Conclusions:

there is a high prevalence of disinformation among the older population in two Portuguese-speaking countries, which should raise the attention of healthcare professionals and guide coping strategies.

Descriptors:
Health Behavior; COVID-19; Disinformation; Aged; Global Health.

Variables	Agreed with at least one disinformation content				p value
	Yes		No
	n	%	n	%
Immigrant					0.014
Yes	68	8.6	55	13
No	724	91.4	367	87
Age group					0.428
50 to 59 years old	538	67.9	296	70.1
60 years or older	254	32.1	126	29.9
Marital status					0.368
In a relationship	549	69.3	303	71.8
Single	243	30.7	119	28.2
Education					0.433
< than 12 years of study	131	16.8	59	14.0
12 years or older	653	82.5	361	85.6
Prefer not to answer	8	1	2	0.5
Practice of any religion					0.000
Yes	558	70.5%	170	40.3
No	234	29.5	252	59.7
Do you agree with the need for social distancing/quarantine?					0.102
Agree	847	98.1	415	98.3
Disagree	6	0.7	4	0.9
Neutral (Neither agree nor disagree)	9	1.1	3	0.7
"Do you agree with the strategies adopted by your local government to deal with the pandemic?"					0.178
Agree	593	74.9	322	76.3
Disagree	188	23.7	87	20.7
Neutral (Neither agree nor disagree)	11	1.4	13	3.1
Have you tested yourself for COVID-19?	257	32.4	136	32.2	0.937
Do you usually receive and / or seek news about the infection by the new Coronavirus?	706	89.1	383	90.8	0.377
How often do you usually receive and/or seek news about the new Coronavirus infection?					0.182
Often	712	89.9	379	89.8
Rarely	80	10.1	43	10.2
Main sources of news and information
TV shows	500	63.1	257	60.9	0.445
Online newspapers	566	71.5	324	76.8	0.046
Printed newspapers	74	9.3	26	6.2	0.055
Other sites	246	31.1	163	38.6	0.008
Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)	358	45.2	179	42.4	0.352
WhatsApp	198	25.0	71	16.8	0.001
Friends and Family	193	24.4	103	24.4	0.988
Health professionals	422	53.3	235	55.7	0.423
Radio programs	144	18.2	62	14.7	0.123
In terms of trust, how do you classify the information from the sources that you listed as a priority?					0.000
Extremely reliable	517	65.3	308	71.8
Some reliable and some not	275	34.7	119	28.2

Variable	PR	CI95%	aPR	CI95%	p value
Country of origin					0.02
Brazil	Reference
Portugal	0.84	0.7 - 1	0.85	0.71 - 0.93
African countries	0.74	0.59 - 0.93	0.76	0.60 - 0.96
Education
< than 12 years of study	Reference
12 years or older	1.12	0.9 - 1.4
Favorite news source
Online newspapers	0.91	0.78 - 1.1
Radio programs	1.08	0.9 - 1.3
Printed newspapers	1.15	0.9 - 1.46
TV shows	1.03	0.89 - 1.19
Social media	1.05	0.91 - 1.21
WhatsApp	1.16	0.99 - 1.37
Friends and family	0.99	0.84 - 1.2
Others	0.89	0.76 - 1.03
Trust in preferred source					0.03
Depends on the source	Reference
Reliable regardless of source	1.29	1.01 - 1.65	1.31	1.02 - 1.67
Extremely reliable regardless of source	1.09	0.85 - 1.39	1.1	0.85 - 1.41
Impact of the news received on their prevention attitudes
No impact	Reference
Low impact	1.13	0.72 - 1.77
Moderate impact	1.03	0.68 - 1.58
High impact	1.04	0.68 - 1.59
Frequency with which you receive news about COVID-19 sent by others
Daily	Reference
More than once a week	0.97		0.8 - 1.17
Weekly	0.98		0.77 - 1.24
Rarely	0.93		0.77 - 1.12

Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem SGA Norte Quadra 603 Conj. "B" - Av. L2 Norte 70830-102 Brasília, DF, Brasil, Tel.: (55 61) 3226-0653, Fax: (55 61) 3225-4473 - Brasília - DF - Brazil
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[1] Corresponding author: Isabel Amélia Costa Mendes, E-mail: iamendes@usp.br