Folkvord Frans, Snelting Freek, Anschutz Doeschka, Hartmann Tilo, Theben Alexandra, Gunderson Laura, Vermeulen Ivar, Lupiáñez-Villanueva Francisco
Open Evidence Research, Open Evidence, Barcelona, Spain.
Nijmegen, Netherlands.
J Med Internet Res. 2022 Mar 31;24(3):e27945. doi: 10.2196/27945.
Disinformation has become an increasing societal concern, especially due to the speed that news is shared in the digital era. In particular, disinformation in the health care sector can lead to serious casualties, as the current COVID-19 crisis clearly shows.
The main aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of information about the source and a protective warning message on users' critical evaluation of news items, as well as the perception of accuracy of the news item.
A 3 (unreliable vs reliable vs no identified source) × 2 (with protective message vs without) between-subject design was conducted among 307 participants (mean age 29 (SD 10.9] years).
The results showed a significant effect of source information on critical evaluation. In addition, including a protective message did not significantly affect critical evaluation. The results showed no interaction between type of source and protective message on critical evaluation.
Based on these results, it is questionable whether including protective messages to improve critical evaluation is a way to move forward and improve critical evaluation of health-related news items, although effective methodologies to tackle the spread of disinformation are highly needed.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05030883; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05030883.
虚假信息已成为日益严重的社会问题，尤其是在数字时代新闻传播速度极快的情况下。特别是医疗保健领域的虚假信息可能导致严重伤亡，当前的新冠疫情危机就清楚地表明了这一点。
本研究的主要目的是通过实验检验关于信息来源的信息以及一条保护性警告信息对用户对新闻报道的批判性评估以及对新闻报道准确性感知的影响。
在307名参与者（平均年龄29岁（标准差10.9岁））中进行了一项3（不可靠来源与可靠来源与未指明来源）×2（有保护性信息与无保护性信息）的组间设计。
结果表明来源信息对批判性评估有显著影响。此外，包含保护性信息并未对批判性评估产生显著影响。结果显示来源类型与保护性信息在批判性评估方面不存在交互作用。
基于这些结果，尽管迫切需要有效的方法来应对虚假信息的传播，但通过包含保护性信息来改善批判性评估是否是推进和改善对健康相关新闻报道批判性评估的一种方式仍值得怀疑。
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05030883；https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05030883 。
