Impaired Perceptions and Conspiracy Beliefs about the Way of Emergence of the COVID-19 Infection

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FENERCİOĞLU A., CAN G., SİPAHİOĞLU N., Demir O., GÜLLÜOĞLU S., Gedik I., ...Daha Fazla

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH, cilt.19, sa.9, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 19 Sayı: 9
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/ijerph19095557
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Geobase, MEDLINE, Pollution Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, coronavirus, perception, conspiracy beliefs, ANXIETY, IMPACT
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

This study aimed to reveal the perceptions and conspiracy theories surrounding the new coronavirus infection. We aimed to explore associations between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs with recommended health protective attitudes and sociodemographic features among the Turkish population. A questionnaire consisting of seven items about COVID-19 conspiracy theories and perceptions and ten items about attitudes was given to patients and their relatives in five different centres during the second national lockdown in Istanbul. A chi-square test was used to evaluate the associations of disease perceptions and conspiracy beliefs with sociodemographic features and with health protective attitudes. Logistic regression analysis was performed for significant results. Of 483 participants, 242 (50.1%) were found to have a conspiracy belief. Conspiracy theories were more frequent in the participants who were older than 50 years of age (p = 0.009) (OR: 1.83) and less frequent in higher education levels (p = 0.005) (OR: 0.499). In addition, 6.6% of the participants were infected with COVID-19, but having the infection was found to have no effect on disease perceptions or conspiracy beliefs. Wearing a mask in crowds, avoiding shaking hands and kissing, and washing hands were less frequent among conspiracy believers and participants with impaired perceptions. These results indicate that misconceptions and conspiracy beliefs are driving the adoption of disinformation about the prevention of COVID-19 infection.