Abstract
Background and Objectives: The population has been overwhelmed with false information related to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, spreading rapidly through social media and other channels. We aimed to investigate if frontline healthcare workers affected by infodemia show different psychological consequences than frontline clinicians who do not declare to be affected by false news related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty-six frontline healthcare workers from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Departments in Romania completed a survey to assess stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders, between March and April 2020. We split the sample of frontline healthcare workers into two groups based on the self-evaluated criteria: if they were or were not affected by infodemia in their activity. Results: Considering limitations such as the cross-sectional design, the lack of causality relationship, and the sample size, the results show that, the frontline medical workers who declared to be affected by false news were significantly more stressed, felt more anxiety, and suffered more from insomnia than healthcare workers who are not affected by false information related to pandemic time. Conclusions: The infodemia has significant psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety, and insomnia on already overwhelmed doctors and nurses in the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. These findings suggest that medical misinformation’s psychological implications must be considered when different interventions regarding frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are implemented.
Highlights
As the coronavirus has spread across the world, so too the misinformation about it was exploded.The first cases of COVID-19 in Romania emerged in March 2020
We already know from previous studies that during the outbreak of COVID-19, healthcare workers screened positive for moderate to severe levels of depression, anxiety, and stress [11]. Considering these factors, the sample of frontline healthcare workers were split into two groups based on the self-evaluated criteria: if they were or were not affected by infodemia in their activity, we aimed to investigate whether frontline healthcare workers who declared to be affected by false news show different levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia than frontline clinicians who do not consider themselves to be affected by infodemia related to the COVID-19 pandemic
The frontline medical workers who were declared to be affected by false news (N1 = 43) were significantly more stressed (t = 3.04, p < 0.001) than healthcare workers who are not affected by misinformation related to pandemic time (N2 = 83), and this result offers support for Hypothesis 1
Summary
As the coronavirus has spread across the world, so too the misinformation about it was exploded.The first cases of COVID-19 in Romania emerged in March 2020. The population has been overwhelmed with false information related to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, spreading rapidly through social media and other channels. Results: Considering limitations such as the cross-sectional design, the lack of causality relationship, and the sample size, the results show that, the frontline medical workers who declared to be affected by false news were significantly more stressed, felt more anxiety, and suffered more from insomnia than healthcare workers who are not affected by false information related to pandemic time. Conclusions: The infodemia has significant psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety, and insomnia on already overwhelmed doctors and nurses in the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. These findings suggest that medical misinformation’s psychological implications must be considered when different interventions regarding frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are implemented
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