IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p23-d1009084.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health Literacy and Critical Lecture as Key Elements to Detect and Reply to Nutrition Misinformation on Social Media: Analysis between Spanish Healthcare Professionals

Author

Listed:
  • Sergio Segado-Fernández

    (Department of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Canarias, Calle Inocencio García, 1, La Orotava, 38300 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • María del Carmen Lozano-Estevan

    (VALORNUT-UCM (920030) Research Group, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez

    (Nursing Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alfonso X el Sabio University, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain)

  • Carlos Ruiz-Núñez

    (Phd Student Program in Biomedicine, Translational Research and New Health Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Malaga Blvr. Louis Pasteur, 29010 Málaga, Spain)

  • Pedro Jesús Jiménez Hidalgo

    (Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery Service, Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Ctra. Gral. del Rosario, 145, 38010 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain)

  • Invención Fernández-Quijano

    (Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain)

  • Liliana González-Rodríguez

    (VALORNUT-UCM (920030) Research Group, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Azucena Santillán-García

    (Nursing Department, Valencia International University, C/Pintor Sorolla 21, 46002 Valencia, Spain)

  • Ivan Herrera-Peco

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Health misinformation about nutrition and other health aspects on social media is a current public health concern. Healthcare professionals play an essential role in efforts to detect and correct it. The present study focuses on analyzing the use of competencies associated with training in methodology, health literacy, and critical lecture in order to detect sources of health misinformation that use scientific articles to support their false information. A qualitative study was conducted between 15 and 30 January 2022, wherein the participants were recruited from active users from a nutrition conversation on Twitter, diets, and cancer and defined themselves as healthcare professionals. This study demonstrates that health literacy and critical lecture competencies allow for the detection of more misinformation messages and are associated with a high rate of responses to users that spread the misinformation messages. Finally, this study proposes the necessity of developing actions to improve health literacy and critical lecture competencies between healthcare professionals. However, in order to achieve this, health authorities must develop strategies to psychologically support those healthcare professionals faced with bullying as a result of their activity on social media debunking health hoaxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio Segado-Fernández & María del Carmen Lozano-Estevan & Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez & Carlos Ruiz-Núñez & Pedro Jesús Jiménez Hidalgo & Invención Fernández-Quijano & Liliana González-Rodríguez & Azucena, 2022. "Health Literacy and Critical Lecture as Key Elements to Detect and Reply to Nutrition Misinformation on Social Media: Analysis between Spanish Healthcare Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:23-:d:1009084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/23/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/23/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julio Emilio Marco-Franco & Pedro Pita-Barros & David Vivas-Orts & Silvia González-de-Julián & David Vivas-Consuelo, 2021. "COVID-19, Fake News, and Vaccines: Should Regulation Be Implemented?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-11, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xia, Huosong & Wang, Yuan & Zhang, Justin Zuopeng & Zheng, Leven J. & Kamal, Muhammad Mustafa & Arya, Varsha, 2023. "COVID-19 fake news detection: A hybrid CNN-BiLSTM-AM model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Principe, Francesco & Weber, Guglielmo, 2023. "Online health information seeking and Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy: Evidence from 50+ Europeans," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Joon Woo Yoo & Junsung Park & Jong Ho Lee & Heejun Park, 2022. "Recovering from the COVID-19 shock: the role of risk perception and perceived effectiveness of protective measures on travel intention during the pandemic," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(3), pages 557-580, September.
    4. Phil-Adrian Klotz, 2022. "Leadership communication and COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2022 26, Stata Users Group.
    5. Zaman, Mustafeed & Vo-Thanh, Tan & Nguyen, Chi T.K. & Hasan, Rajibul & Akter, Shahriar & Mariani, Marcello & Hikkerova, Lubica, 2023. "Motives for posting fake reviews: Evidence from a cross-cultural comparison," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Mahamudul Haque. & Shirajum Munira. & Shahin Alam, 2024. "Covid-19 Vaccine Phobia in Bangladesh: A Study on its Communication Perspectives," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(7), pages 1174-1184, July.
    7. Klotz, Phil-Adrian, 2022. "Leadership Communication and COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264050, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Malik Sallam & Deema Dababseh & Huda Eid & Hanan Hasan & Duaa Taim & Kholoud Al-Mahzoum & Ayat Al-Haidar & Alaa Yaseen & Nidaa A. Ababneh & Areej Assaf & Faris G. Bakri & Suzan Matar & Azmi Mahafzah, 2021. "Low COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Is Correlated with Conspiracy Beliefs among University Students in Jordan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Hazal Duman Alptekin & Nihan Tomris Kucun & Merve Kurt & Behcet Yalin Ozkara, 2024. "Neurometric and biometric measurement of the effectiveness of covid-19-related public service announcements," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 21(3), pages 625-643, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:23-:d:1009084. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.