COVID-19: Beliefs in misinformation in the Australian community

Pickles, K.; Cvejic, E.; Nickel, B.; Copp, T.; Bonner, C.; Leask, J.; Ayre, J.; Batcup, C.; Cornell, S.; Dakin, T.; Dodd, R.; Isautier, J. M.; McCaffery, K. J.

Objectives: To investigate prevalence of beliefs in COVID-19 misinformation and examine whether demographic, psychosocial and cognitive factors are associated with these beliefs, and how they change over time. Study design: Prospective national longitudinal community online survey. Setting: Australian general public. Participants: Adults aged over 18 years (n=4362 baseline/Wave 1; n=1882 Wave 2; n=1369 Wave 3). Main outcome measure: COVID-19 misinformation beliefs. Results: Stronger agreement with misinformation beliefs was significantly associated with younger age, male gender, lower education, and primarily speaking a language other than English at home (all p<0.01). After controlling for these variables, misinformation beliefs were significantly associated (p<0.001) with lower digital health literacy, lower perceived threat of COVID-19, lower confidence in government, and lower trust in scientific institutions. The belief that the threat of COVID-19 is greatly exaggerated increased between Wave 1-2 (p=0.002), while belief that herd immunity benefits were being covered up decreased (p<0.001). Greatest support from a list of Australian Government identified myths was for those regarding hot temperatures killing the virus (22%) and Ibuprofen exacerbates COVID-19 (13%). Lower institutional trust and greater rejection of official government accounts were associated with greater support for COVID-19 myths after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Conclusion: These findings highlight important gaps in communication effectiveness. Stronger endorsement of misinformation was associated with male gender, younger age, lower education and language other than English spoken at home. Misinformation can undermine public health efforts. Public health authorities must urgently target groups identified in this study when countering misinformation and seek ways to enhance public trust of experts, governments, and institutions.