The Power Of Misinformation

Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-holding-their-phones-3184435/

Research Question and Introduction

How did varying health beliefs affect individual experience of the COVID-19 pandemic?

In 2020, the World Health Organisation characterised COVID-19 as a worldwide pandemic (WHO 2020). The public health response was to prevent and control transmission of COVID-19 virus. The year is 2023 and COVID-19 still exists. Individuals are no longer required to isolate after encountering the virus. Further, mask wearing, and COVID-19 vaccines are no longer compulsory to access public spaces. However, health beliefs have become very diverse and controversial over the past three years. The spread of misinformation during the pandemic was easier due to accesibility of social media (O’Neil et al. 2022). Additionally, the lack of regulation exacerbated the spread of conspiracy theories and political extremism (Basit 2021). This was supported by Brennen et al. (2021) study who states that much of the misleading health information online throughout 2020 was not fact checked. The aim of this report is to explore the varying health beliefs and types of influence, such as interpersonal relationships, misinformation, and politicisation of public health.

Literature Review

Baker (2020) suggests wellness influencers are operating under the guise of wellness culture, with the intention to promote a combination of conspiracy theory and spirituality ideals. The end goal for these influencers is for this thinking to become mainstream throughout society (Baker 2020). Baker (2020) highlights the history of wellness culture that initially emerged as a counterculture during the 1960 and 1970s. This culture promoted freedom of expression, equality, and experimentation (Baker 2020). According to Baker (2020), the popularity of wellness culture 60 years ago compared to now remains similar. The wellness community and alternative health practices operate within a holistic approach to healthcare. The holistic approach is well sought-after due to the way alternative health practitioners respond to medical needs that the bio medical model of medicine may not have addressed (Baker 2020). However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, wellness culture has been infiltrated by elements of fascism (Baker 2020). While some wellness communities may not be directly involved in far- right political ideologies, both share commonality with differing degrees of mistrust throughout society. As an example, many individuals saw the introduction of lockdowns and compulsory vaccinations as an attempt to control and have constant surveillance on the population. The concerns over restricting individual civil liberties through this process often treaded the line of conspiracy thinking (Baker 2020). Additionally, the use of internet culture has provided wellness influencers with the tools to circulate false and unsubstantiated medical advice across multiple social media platforms (Baker 2020). Baker (2020) substantiates this claim by drawing on four case studies from the time period of 2020-2021. The case studies track wellness influencers using techniques to achieve prominent status online. The study analyses the strategies the influencers adopted to appeal to wellness communities.

Brennan et al. (2021), present a combined qualitative and quantitative study of the specific function and characteristics of misleading visual content online, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (Brennan et al. 2021). The authors acknowledge this study is a starting point for visuals misrepresentations and the effects on future decision-making regarding mistrust of health organisations and government. Brennan et al. (2021) utilised a small convenience sample of fact checked misinformation visuals. The authors identified six functions of false or misinformed visual content. These are ‘authoritative agency, virulence, medical efficacy, intolerance, prophecy and satire’ (Brennan et al. 2021 p.284). The characteristics of visuals, exist to act as a mechanism of proof to a claim and imitate authority figures (Brennan et al. 2021).

The Covid-19 pandemic provided the perfect environment for conspiracy theories to develop. The virus was a threat to public health of individuals, economy, and society. As a result, measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, lockdowns, and compulsory vaccines were introduced. These measures triggered a collective uncertainty and fear of the unknown (Freeman et al. 2020). Existing literature on conspiracy theories outlines the connections of conspiracy belief with threats to social change, extreme political ideology, and powerlessness (Freeman et al. 2020). Freeman et al. (2020) conducted an online survey of 2501 individuals using quota sampling by demographic. The participants were asked to rate their alignment with 48 conspiracy statements. The findings found individuals with a higher measure of COVID-19 conspiracy thinking were more likely to not follow government measures, get vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested for the virus. Additionally, these ideas accompanied existing mistrust in authority or institutions, existing conspiracy thinking and paranoia (Freeman et al. 2020). The gaps in the literature I am researching include lack of comparative studies across countries. These studies are necessary to determine social causes of conspiracy thinking throughout society (Freeman et al. 2021). The existing research has guided my research approach into exploring how people experienced the pandemic and navigated conspiracy related health beliefs during this time.

Research Methodology:

Research Method

Using a constructivist research paradigm, I am aiming to explore how varying health beliefs, contributed to a variety of theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. The constructivist perspective of reality is the local understanding and specific exchanges. Simultaneously, an individual can experience a multitude of experiences that influence reality. This perspective enables reality to continuously be a part of many representations and discourse (Waller et al. 2016). The constructivist paradigm allows comparisons to be made between types of influences and conspiracy thinking discourse (Freeman et al. 2021). My research consisted of four semi -structured interviews with women aged between twenty-nine and fifty. Qualitative methods obtained rich data on varying health beliefs and types of influence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative semi structured interviews are steered by participant responses. This enabled a conversational flow of ideas while building rapport between facilitator and participant (Waller et al. 2016). I did initially consider a focus group for my research. However, due to the diverse and controversial health beliefs surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. I decided that a focus group would be inappropriate for my topic of research and potentially cause harm to participants or myself in the process.

Purposive sampling and data collection procedures

I will be using purposive and snowball sampling for my research. Purposive sampling involves selecting research participants based on an inclusion criteria. Whereas snowball sampling is when participants are asked to recommend participants to be involved (Waller et al. 2016). I interviewed four individuals. The inclusion criteria for my research were individuals of varying life experiences who have diverse or controversial health beliefs or know someone who does. This allowed me to explore the influences upon health beliefs and contrast these with social causes of conspiracy thinking. I have used my social network to recruit participants, by giving them a printout of the information statement. The interviews were in a quiet area that had previously been agreed upon. The interviews were recorded on my mobile phone. One of the participants was recommended by another participant. The participants contact information was given to me with consent. To maintain my ethical considerations, I sent a text message to this individual outlining the focus of my research. As well as ensuring they did not feel obligated to participate after consenting to sharing their contact information. I analysed the data by using thematic analysis, this is how I identified reoccurring themes. The initial process of open coding and handwritten notes on printouts of the transcripts presented repetitious language and similarities between the four interviews (Waller et al. 2016; Bryman 2016).

Ethics

During the process of qualitative research, power relationships between researcher and participant are ubiquitous. For this reason, ethical research is required to maintain honest and true research that benefits society (Waller et al. 2016).

Ethical guidelines are underpinned by respect for participants, research quality, doing no harm to participants and justice (Waller et al. 2016). To make sure the participants are respected, I asked for their consent and reiterate that participation is voluntarily and that they could withdraw their consent at any time during the research process. I made sure they kept a copy of the information statement and signed the consent form that I kept.

Confidentiality is a very important part of social research. To ensure confidentiality, I let participants know I will be using pseudonyms throughout the research process. Specifically, de-identifying participants in transcriptions, presentations, and this research report. The research topic is ethically approved to not cause harm. However, discussing controversial topics may be distressing to participants. For this reason, it is imperative to provide care to participants what may be a vulnerable space (Waller et al. 2016). I addressed their care by observing their body language. When the participant looked uncomfortable, I asked if they were alright or if they needed a break. During one interview a participant asked to take a break and later requested for a particular section of conversation to not be included. I respected their decision to withdraw consent for that section. This section has been removed from the transcript.

Findings

The findings are organised into the following themes (1) Interpersonal relationships, (2) Government mistrust and (3) politicisation of public health. These are discussed in detail below.

Interpersonal Relationships

After coding the interviews all four participants had experiences of varying health beliefs affecting their interpersonal relationships. Specifically, COVID-19 conspiracy theory content such as QANON. As well as differing views on public health measures such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

Odette commented on her ex-wife’s consumption of over 15 hours of QANON material and the echo chamber she felt stuck in.

“She thinks that’s why I cry all the time? Because of our relationship breakdown. It’s because of this three- year echo chamber that has upended my life. She has no idea how involved she was in QANON… Every time the news would come on, she[would] start this isn't even real. Joe Biden's a clone…That's an actor playing him. He's in Guantanamo Bay…She said that and my whole world fell apart. That’s QANON how did this happen to me?” Odette (51 Designer)

In the above excerpt, Odette described a vulnerable experience of her ex-wife’s involvement in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Odette spoke about the combination of her ex-wife’s internet addiction, COVID-19 conspiracy theories and the pandemic creating this panic fuelled environment at home. Odette stated that she actively tried to get COVID-19 to save her marriage and prove to her then wife that COVID-19 was not a hoax. Interpersonal relationships during the pandemic have not been elaborated in the literature. However, the connection between echo chambers and conspiracy theory engagement has been explored by O’Neil et al. (2022). The authors characterize an echo chamber by individuals placing total trust in authority while rejecting beliefs that oppose this authority (O’Neil et al. 2022). Individuals are more likely to be susceptible to misinformation and dismiss any other perspective as fake news (O’Neil et al. 2022; Baker 2020).

Other participants, Anita and Feyre had similar perspectives on the effects of varying health beliefs on their interpersonal relationships. Anita and Feyre both experienced relationship breakdowns due to conspiracy related theories due to public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anita and her family actively complied with public health orders and rule changes throughout the pandemic. While she did not agree with every aspect of the public health orders, she recognized the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anita discussed her decision to not share her vaccine status on social media as an expression of respect for those who may not have agreed with this decision. Anita reflected on morals and values surrounding individual freedoms to have an opinion regardless of whether she personally agreed or not. This is reflected in the quote below.

“I would fight to the death to allow you to have your opinion about whatever you want. But respect mine as well… She was one of my best friends. In the end it was her who did the breaking up… I cried about it for weeks, it was worse than breaking up with any bloke ever” Anita (50, Lawyer)

In the excerpt below, Feyre reflected on how her family were not just going to reject this person due to difference of health beliefs. As well as the level of concern and shock her family experienced on behalf of this family friend removing herself from their lives.

“[She did not] recognize that we’ve got differences of opinion and then move on… She didn’t agree with us and it was quite mature I feel how our family didn’t just exclude her from our lives… we weren’t the ones to pre-empt that” Feyre (31, Social worker)

Many individuals experienced varying levels of relationship breakdowns as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another element that affected individual experience was government mistrust and misinformation.

Government mistrust

Misinformation

All participants expressed a sense of fear and the unknown regarding the early stages of the pandemic (Freeman et al. 2020). There were different levels of mistrust and criticisms. Some participants did not agree with the lifting of public health restrictions and stated, ‘It felt… very hush hush and that was the wrong thing to do in the very beginning’ - Emma (29, Full- time parent). While others criticised targeted discriminatory measures on public housing and culturally and linguistic diverse groups, stating ‘that was quite punitive’ - Feyre (31, Social Worker).

Anita (50, lawyer) commented on receiving daily messages and videos of COVID-19 misinformation claiming to cure the virus. Anita remained respectful of differing health beliefs during this time. However, when she noticed the source of the information was not from a medical doctor. The validity of information her friend was consuming and claiming it as absolute truth concerned her. Similarly, Odette (51, Designer) also reflected on visual content she was shown during the pandemic, ‘they were stock images’. This information is supported by the results of Brennen et al. (2021) study on misleading visual content. The findings presented 52% of misleading information was accompanied by a visual serving as evidence of the claim.

Further analysis of the participants experiences revealed that there was not a specific type of person having varying health beliefs and spreading misinformation. This is supported by Freeman et al. (2020) who found there was no correlation between marginalized groups and conspiracy theories. To their knowledge prior to the pandemic the individuals they know did not participate in any conspiracy theory discourse. However, O’Neil et al. (2022) study found that nurses were more likely to have actively circulated false and misleading information on various social media platforms during the pandemic. In the excerpt below, Feyre (31, Social Worker) discussed a health practitioner with varying health beliefs.

‘A Nurse… who didn’t trust the vaccines and didn't trust the government and didn't trust the messaging and the media. And fell into that conspiracy type thinking…it was just quite shocking. You know, such an intellectual, intelligent, trusted family friend’.

Additionally, the circulation of the misinformation lead to Government mistrust. Odette (51, Designer) discussed the lack of support and fear she felt for herself and others during this time. This is illustrated in the quote below.

“I just don't think they realized what was happening behind the scenes in houses like mine. And no one was helping me because they're all too worried. No one helped…Every time a helicopter flew over, she thought it was the government coming to get her and put her in a secret concentration camp”.

The experiences highlighted by the participants explore how the varying range of government mistrust and misinformation affected them during the pandemic. The last theme to discuss is the politisation of Public Health.

Politicisation of Public Health

Polarisation and Vaccine Hesitancy

The polarisation between individuals following public health measures and those who did not, was strife within the community. This level of polarisation increased with the vaccination mandates and lifting of public health restrictions dependent on your vaccine status. The literature discusses how this manifested in anti-vaccination groups. There view was that the government and traditional media were using oppressive public health measures to restrict movement (O’Neil et al. 2022).

This theme is demonstrated in Odette’s (51, Designer) comment.

“And then we're starting to get this campaign to get vaccinated. And I always thought, you know, this is so strange… And there's just always two sides. Why aren't we having two sides for this?...Our solution is one size fits all. You're locked down. You can do this. Everything was becoming so divided, like you are good. If you get vaccinated. You are bad if you don't”.

Vaccine hesitancy

Anita (50, Lawyer) and Feyre (31, Social Worker) had similar experiences of vaccination hesitancy. Both participants explained a sense of having a ‘healthy scepticism’ of the COVID-19 vaccination. While also engaging in trusted news sources such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to make an informed decisions based on age and associated risks of the vaccine. Feyre commented on sharing this information with friends and family.

“I always made sure to clarify with people what I'm saying, where I'm getting this information, this isn't from an internet forum. I'm getting this information from Doctor Norman Swan from corona cast. Because not everyone is listening to those news sources. These [Conspiracy health beliefs] aren't just thoughts, feelings and values that people have these have consequences for not just your immediate family but for your community, the greater population and have consequences like death, and health complications and some are quite serious. This isn't a conspiracy health belief, you know? Believe about something without much consequence”.

Emma (29, Full-time parent) reflected on her experience as a pregnant person when COVID-19 vaccines became available and how she felt she made the decision based on fear. Emma stated that ‘getting the vaccine was kind of my way of keeping my baby and not have the risk of them [being] taken away’. Emma acknowledged her growing anxiety and consuming media content from Facebook contributed to making this decision.

Odette (51, Designer) expressed frustration at the public for calling individuals as ‘crazy’ and ‘unhinged’ who engaged in conspiracy theory content, while not complying with public health measures. Odette commented on her situation being quite complex but unfortunately not unique, stating ‘If I got vaccinated, I was getting a divorce…I got vaccinated in secret. No one knows I’m vaccinated’. Odette reflected how quickly individuals were criticising ‘sovereign citizens and ‘anti- vaxxers’ but were not calling out the people creating COVID-19 conspiracy theory content that was spreading misinformation.

Conclusion

Individuals participating in conspiracy theory content and radical ideologies struggled with the environment the pandemic created of uncertainty and social change. This combination with social media platforms led to a spread of public health misinformation (Baker 2020; O’Neil et al. 2022; Freeman et al. 2021); Brennan et al. 2021). The Conspiracy health beliefs circulating acted as a cognitive explanation for individuals who were intolerable to the ambiguous nature of the pandemic. Due to the social and cultural identity conspiracy theories create individuals did not require a valid information source to express their genuine beliefs (Basit 2021; Brennan et al. 2021). Similar to Freeman et al. (2020) findings, my research demonstrates various feelings of powerlessness and how this resulted in conspiracy thinking as a mechanism of taking back control. To answer my research question, each individual experiences were complex and unique to their situation. The social causes of conspiracy thinking were varied between government mistrust, polarisation, and misinformation.

Reflection

I was initially concerned that only using my social network would limit my scope and findings. I really enjoyed hearing participant experiences of the pandemic. I know I have been narrow minded in the past towards people with varying health beliefs. This project has helped me understand my role as a researcher and emphasisewith individual and complex circumstances regardless of their health beliefs or political ideology. In future I would further discuss the information statement and how this research report is for the purpose of SOCS3200 University assignment. I received the impression from one of the participants who was referred to me, that this was postgraduate research. Even though I watched them read the information statement and discussed ethical guidelines with them.

References:

Baker, S 2022, ‘Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 25, no. 1, pp 3–24.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1177/13675494211062623

Basit, A 2021, ‘Conspiracy Theories and Violent Extremism: Similarities, Differences and the Implications’, Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, vol. 13, no.3, pp 1–9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27040260

Brennen, J, Simon, F, & Nielsen, R, 2021 ‘Beyond (Mis)Representation: Visuals in COVID-19 Misinformation’, The International Journal of Press/Politics, vol. 26, no. 1, 277–299. https://doi-org.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1177/1940161220964780

Bryman, A 2016, Social Research Methods, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom

Freeman, D, Waite, F, Rosebrock, L, Petit, A, Causier, C, East, A, Jenner, L, Teale, A, Carr, L, Mullhall, S & Lambe, S 2020, ‘Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance with government guidelines in England’, Psychological Medicine, pp. 1-13.

https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720001890

Waller, V, Farquharson, K, Dempsey, D 2016, Qualitative social research: Contemporary Methods for the Digital Age, 1st edn, Sage publications, London.

World Health Organisation 2020, WHO Director General opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19, World Health Organisation viewed April 4 2023

https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

O’Neil, M, Khan, I, Holland, K, Cai, X 2022, ‘Mapping the connections of the health professionals to COVID-19 myths and facts in the Australian Twittersphere, Information, Communication and Society, vol. 25, no. 2, pp 1-22,

DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2022.2032260

Appendices

Interview

Informed consent

Have you had time to read through the participant information sheet and consent form? Do you have any questions about this?

Do you consent to take part in this interview and to have it recorded and transcribed?

Have you signed the consent form? If not, please read and sign the provided consent form.

Brief introduction

Thank you for agreeing to this interview. This interview is on the topic of health beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This might be your own experiences or someone who you know. My research is specifically focussing on the types of influences and information circulating at the time.

1. What was life like during the pandemic?

2. How did your life and routine change?

3. What did your 2020 lockdown look like?

3. Where did you get your information from at the time?

4. What was your first experience of hearing a Covid-19 conspiracy theory?

5. Did you experience vaccine hesitancy? Why?

6. How did you feel about the lockdowns?

7. Do you believe the restriction on movement and socially distancing from others reduced the risks of getting COVID-19?

8. How much should the government be in control of our daily lives?

9. Has the Covid 19 pandemic changed your level of trust in media or state governments?

10.Did you experience any relationship break downs due to your opinions of the COVID-19 pandemic?

11.Did you/ or they experience any mistrust in health campaigns before covid-19 pandemic?

Do you have any further questions?

Thank you for your time.