Keywords
COVID-19, public health, misinformation, vaccine, virus
Abstract
The global COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to national public health perception and the detriments of medical misinformation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent to which susceptibility to common COVID-19 virus and vaccine misconceptions correlate with the high school students’ perception of public health. A survey was distributed to 61 high school students, and it was found that there is a weak negative correlation between acceptance of COVID-19 virus and vaccine misconceptions and national public health perception. The results, however, indicated a prevalence of misconceptions surrounding COVID-19 among participants. Overall, 52.5% of participants rate public health as poorly functioning regarding preventing health threats and illnesses such as COVID-19. Importantly, high school students are vulnerable to deceiving information on the internet and social media and do not have good/excellent opinions towards national public health regarding managing infectious diseases such as COVID-19, which could potentially be worsened by destructive misinformation on the media.
Recommended Citation
Patel, Isha
(2023)
"The Prevalence of COVID-19 Misinformation among High School Students and its Influence on National Public Health Perception,"
International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities: Vol. 15:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/ijurca/vol15/iss1/1