Disclosure of Protective Message
Conditions
Brief summary
Background: Disinformation has become an increasing societal concern, especially due to the speed that news is shared in the current digital era. In particular in the healthcare sector disinformation can lead to serious casualties, as the current COVID-19 crisis clearly shows. Objective: The main aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of information about the source's and a displayed protective warning message on users' critical evaluation of news items, as well as the perception of accuracy of the news item. Methods: A 3(unreliable versus reliable versus no identified source) x 2 (protective message: with versus without) between subject design has been conducted among 307 participants (mean age = 29 years, SD = 10.9 years).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSource of news
The main intervention was the source of the news that was shown to participants
Sponsors
Tilburg University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Facebook user * older than 18 * Dutch
Exclusion criteria
* younger than 18 years * no facebook
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Critical evaluation of source and news | immediately after exposure, 5 minutes | questionnaire |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed