Credibility, veracity and importance of information sources about covid-19 in university students

Torres-Orihuela G.; Chura-Quispe G. · Revista de Salud Publica (2023) · DOI: 10.15446/rsap.v25n5.100247

Resumen

Introduction The fight against COVID-19 begins with the reflection generated by situational awareness, which is why it is necessary for the media to guarantee informational confidence to the population. Objectives To establish the correlation between credibility, truth and importance of sources of information on COVID-19; to determine the most trusted sources and to compare them according to gender. Methods A quantitative study was conducted with an ex post facto correlational design. The sample was non-probabilistic and consisted of 464 university students from Arequipa. The questionnaire used was a Likert scale with nine dimensions, adequate reliability indices (α and Ω >0.65) and relevant construct (KMO > 0.50, p<0.05). Non-parametric statistics were used (KS = p<0.05). Results The results showed that there is a positive, significant, high correlation with low beta error [p<0.05; Sp >0.70; 1-ß >0.80] between credibility-trustworthiness, importance-credibility and trustworthiness-importance. 67.2% place high trust in Ministry of Health sites, and more than 60% place high to average trust in traditional media or people close to them. Women trust television, Facebook and Instagram more than men (p<0.05). Conclusions There are significant, positive, high correlations with conventional statistical power between credibility, trustworthiness and importance. The Ministry of Health is the most trusted medium, followed by traditional media and people close to them. Women place greater trust in Facebook, Instagram and television compared to men.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa; Escuela de Posgrado Newman