Special Education Department, Faculty of Education, Najran University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 18;16(3):e0248811. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248811. eCollection 2021.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been posing a substantial challenge to human survival and well-being, which rely on the actions and behaviors of individuals. It is essential that accurate information is distributed; however, misinformation has been spread via social media. Consequently, the resulting panic has to be addressed while putting essential public health measures in place. It is also important to explore the link between the social media exposure and well-being. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to identify the levels of anxiety, depression, and social isolation among individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we explored the relationship between exposure to misleading social media news and anxiety, depression, and social isolation. A cross sectional design was employed to collect data from 371 Saudi participants (aged 16-60 years), using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Results showed that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and social isolation was 47.82%, 47.57%, and 46.42%, respectively. Further, more than 83% of the participants reported using social media frequently during the pandemic. We found that exposure to misinformation via social media has a significant positive relationship with anxiety, depression, and social isolation. However, Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study it cannot be determined whether social media causes negative mental health outcomes, or if individuals experiencing greater depression, anxiety and social isolation turn to social media more than others, or if some third variable might explain both. Based on our findings, we present specific suggestions related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the government of Saudi Arabia. Minoring and filtering out misleading information with the cooperation of the World Health Organization (WHO) can promote the spread of accurate news in Saudi Arabia.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对人类的生存和福祉构成了重大挑战，这取决于个人的行为和行动。传播准确的信息至关重要，但错误信息已通过社交媒体传播。因此，在采取基本公共卫生措施的同时，必须解决由此产生的恐慌。探索社交媒体接触与幸福感之间的联系也很重要。因此，在当前的研究中，我们旨在确定 COVID-19 大流行期间个体的焦虑、抑郁和社会隔离水平。此外，我们还探讨了接触误导性社交媒体新闻与焦虑、抑郁和社会隔离之间的关系。采用横断面设计从 371 名沙特参与者（年龄 16-60 岁）中收集数据，使用广泛性焦虑症-7 量表、流行病学研究抑郁量表和 Jong Gierveld 孤独量表。结果表明，焦虑、抑郁和社会隔离的患病率分别为 47.82%、47.57%和 46.42%。此外，超过 83%的参与者报告在大流行期间经常使用社交媒体。我们发现，通过社交媒体接触错误信息与焦虑、抑郁和社会隔离呈显著正相关。然而，由于本研究的横断面性质，不能确定社交媒体是否会导致负面心理健康结果，或者是否是经历更大程度抑郁、焦虑和社会隔离的个体比其他人更倾向于使用社交媒体，或者是否存在其他第三个变量可以同时解释这两者。基于我们的发现，我们向沙特阿拉伯政府提出了与 COVID-19 大流行相关的具体建议。与世界卫生组织（WHO）合作筛选和过滤错误信息，可以促进准确新闻在沙特阿拉伯的传播。
