The Effect of Online Seminar on Public Knowledge in Facing Misinformation Regarding The Covid 19 Pandemic in The New Normal Era

Abstract

The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia is increasing. The changed people'slives due to the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted the government to start exploring theimplementation of the new normal. Misinformation about pandemics spreads rapidly so thatit can mislead the general public in knowing the true pandemic situation. Online seminaris one of the most important health promotion methods and can be done in the new normalera in order to provide correct information to the public. This study aimed to determine theeffect of online seminars on public knowledge in dealing with misinformation about theCOVID-19 pandemic in the New Normal era. This study used a quasi experimental pre andpost test design. The sample in this study were all participants who attended onlineseminars and filled out the pretest and posttest questionnaires. Univariate data analysisshowed that the majority of respondents had a mean age of 25.64 years, most of whom werefemale (54.3%), unemployed (61.8%), and most of them had a good level of initial knowledgeabout COVID-19 (86.6%), and a good level of initial knowledge about the new normal (50.3%)before attending online seminars. Bivariate data analysis showed that there was asignificant increase in knowledge about COVID-19 and new normal before and afterattending online seminars with p value = 0.000 (p value <0.05). Online seminar is the rightway to promote health for the general public to face misinformation about the COVID-19Pandemic in the New Normal Era.