Sadore Abinet Arega, Handiso Demelash Woldeyohannes, Wontamo Tekle Ejajo, Mekango Dejene Ermias, Moges Sisay
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Wachemo UniversityHosanna, Ethiopia.
Hossana College of Health Science, Department of Health Informatics, Hossana, Ethiopia.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2021 Jun 8:1-6. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2021.184.
Infection with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a severe public health issue worldwide. A broad amount of information related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was disseminated by social media in Ethiopia. To date, there is limited evidence on the influence of social media use for COVID-19-related information on COVID-19 preventive practice. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the influence of social media use on the practice of COVID-19 preventive measures in Ethiopia.
This study used an anonymous Internet-based online cross-sectional survey using Google Forms to collect the data from the respondents from May 15 to June 17, 2020, in Ethiopia. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between social media use as a predictor and COVID-19 preventive practice, after adjusting for socio-demographic and risk perception of COVID-19 variables. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.
A total of 372 respondents have participated in the study. From 372, a total of 208 (55.9%) respondents in this study were male. Study participants who had good use of social media to get COVID-19-related information were 9.5 times more engaged in COVID-19 preventive practices compared with study participants who had poor use of social media to get COVID-19-related information (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 9.59; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.70-16.13). Also, study participants who had a high-risk perception of COVID-19 were 2.6 times more engaged in COVID-19 practices compared with study participants who had a low-risk perception of COVID-19 (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI: 1.58-4.38). Study participants who were students at the time of this study were 4 times more likely to show an adequate COVID-19 preventive practice score compared with those who had another occupational status (AOR = 4.07; 95% CI: 1.66-9.98).
Our results show that the use of social media networks can have a positive effect on the practice of preventive measures and public safety against COVID-19; high-risk perception contributed to preventive activities against COVID-19. Social networking platforms can be used by public health agencies as an important method to raise public health understanding by disseminating concise messages to targeted audiences.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）感染已成为全球严重的公共卫生问题。在埃塞俄比亚，社交媒体传播了大量与新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行相关的信息。迄今为止，关于使用社交媒体获取COVID-19相关信息对COVID-19预防措施实施的影响的证据有限。因此，本研究旨在评估社交媒体使用对埃塞俄比亚COVID-19预防措施实施的影响。
本研究于2020年5月15日至6月17日在埃塞俄比亚使用基于互联网的匿名在线横断面调查，通过谷歌表单从受访者那里收集数据。在对社会人口统计学和对COVID-19变量的风险认知进行调整后，使用多变量逻辑回归来评估作为预测因素的社交媒体使用与COVID-19预防措施实施之间的关系。使用SPSS 21版对数据进行分析。
共有372名受访者参与了该研究。在这372名受访者中，共有208名（55.9%）为男性。与不善于使用社交媒体获取COVID-19相关信息的研究参与者相比，善于使用社交媒体获取COVID-19相关信息的研究参与者参与COVID-19预防措施的可能性高出9.5倍（调整后的优势比[AOR]=9.59；95%置信区间[CI]：5.70-16.13）。此外，与对COVID-19风险认知较低的研究参与者相比，对COVID-19风险认知较高的研究参与者参与COVID-19预防措施的可能性高出2.6倍（AOR=2.63；95%CI：1.58-4.38）。与具有其他职业身份的研究参与者相比，在本研究进行时为学生的研究参与者表现出足够的COVID-19预防措施得分的可能性高出4倍（AOR=4.07；95%CI：1.66-9.98）。
我们的结果表明，使用社交网络对COVID-19预防措施的实施和公共安全可能有积极影响；高风险认知有助于针对COVID-19的预防活动。公共卫生机构可以利用社交网络平台作为一种重要方法，通过向目标受众传播简明信息来提高公众对公共卫生的认识。
