Migrant Workers' Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Responses of International Migrant Workers to Large-Scale Dormitory Outbreaks of COVID-19: A Population Survey

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04718519

Enrollment

1011

Registered

2021-01-22

Start date

2020-06-22

Completion date

2020-10-11

Last updated

2021-05-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Coronavirus, Misinformation, Trust

Keywords

Migrant workers, Singapore, Vulnerable, Trust, Rumours, Resilience

Brief summary

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. In this study, we seek to document the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief.

Detailed description

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. Vulnerable populations such as migrant workers tend to lack access to accurate health information, which can put them at higher risk for receiving and spreading misinformation. In this study, we seek to document (i) the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and (ii) identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief. These predictors include trust in institutions, risk perceptions, online habits and socio-demographic variables. Data was taken from the COVID-19 Migrant Health Study, a cross-sectional study of male migrants employed in manual labor jobs within Singapore.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

MALE

Age

21 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* At least 21 years old * Holds a government work permit identifying their employment status

Exclusion criteria

* NIL

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Confidence in government	baseline	Participants were asked how confident they were that the government could control the nationwide spread of COVID-19
Fear for health	baseline	Participants were asked how fearful they were about their health during the COVID-19 situation
Fear for job	baseline	Participants were asked how fearful they were about their job during the COVID-19 situation
Degree of exposure to rumours	baseline	We investigated participants' familiarity with five rumors that had been widely spread during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) drinking water frequently will help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (2) eating garlic can help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (3) the outbreak arose from people eating bat soup (COVID-19 origins); (4) the virus was created in a US lab to affect China's economy (COVID-19 origins); and (5) the virus was created in a Chinese lab as a bioweapon (COVID-19 origins).
Online habits	baseline	We investigated the number of hours per day that participants' spent checking COVID-19 news and discussing COVID-19 on social media.

Countries

Singapore

Outcome results