Mehdi Miqdad, Raza Syed Hassan, Yousaf Muhammad, Li Bingqiang, Zaman Umer, Riaz Sohail
School of Law, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, People's Republic of China.
School of Media and Communication, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, 47500, Malaysia.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2025 Apr 1;18:1133-1145. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S501423. eCollection 2025.
Concern over the low hepatitis immunization rates is growing. It is generally believed that misinformation and disinformation are the main barriers to the success of mass immunization campaigns. This study intends to investigate the matter of online misinformation and disinformation about hepatitis vaccination and its implications.
The researchers employed a cross-sectional research design vis-à-vis a web-based survey method to collect data. Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of 1931 internet users across Pakistan. Participation in the study was voluntary. Data collection continued for four months, from Mar 1, 2024, to Jun 30, 2024.
The "results" of structural equation modeling show that misinformation and disinformation substantially structure risk perception regarding hepatitis, which, in turn, impacts problem recognition, involvement recognition, and constraint recognition. Besides, the outcomes uncovered that the chain of problem identification impacts situational motivation, which drives risk communication behaviors. Also, these risk communication behaviors are closely linked to individuals' motivation to receive the hepatitis vaccine.
This research concludes that managing misinformation and disinformation via strategically designed, valid, and reliable digital interventions improves the public's active response regarding willingness to get vaccinated against hepatitis. This study contributes to increasing public acceptance of the hepatitis vaccine by utilizing reliable and valid digital interventions to achieve a more active public health response.
对肝炎疫苗低接种率的担忧日益增加。人们普遍认为，错误信息和虚假信息是大规模疫苗接种运动取得成功的主要障碍。本研究旨在调查关于肝炎疫苗接种的网络错误信息和虚假信息及其影响。
研究人员采用横断面研究设计以及基于网络的调查方法来收集数据。数据来自巴基斯坦全国范围内具有代表性的1931名互联网用户样本。参与研究是自愿的。数据收集持续了四个月，从2024年3月1日至2024年6月30日。
结构方程模型的“结果”表明，错误信息和虚假信息在很大程度上构建了对肝炎的风险认知，进而影响问题识别、参与度识别和限制因素识别。此外，结果发现问题识别链会影响情境动机，而情境动机驱动风险沟通行为。而且，这些风险沟通行为与个人接种肝炎疫苗的动机密切相关。
本研究得出结论，通过精心设计、有效且可靠的数字干预措施来管理错误信息和虚假信息，能够提高公众对接种肝炎疫苗意愿的积极响应。本研究通过利用可靠且有效的数字干预措施来实现更积极的公共卫生响应，有助于提高公众对肝炎疫苗的接受度。
