the use of social media against the campaign of covid 19

Description

ABSTRACT

The use of social media as a tool for professional communication and education in healthcare has been increasing; pros and cons of such platforms were extensively debated in recent years with mixed results. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media use has accelerated to the point of becoming a ubiquitous part of modern healthcare systems. As with any tool in healthcare, its risks and benefits need to be carefully considered. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of social media platforms on public health protection against the COVID-19 pandemic via public health awareness.

The main findings revealed that the use of social media platforms had a significant positive influence on public health protection against COVID-19 as a pandemic. Public health awareness and public health behavioral changes significantly acted as partial mediators in this relationship. Therefore, a better understanding of the effects of the use of social media interventions on public health protection against COVID-19 while taking public health awareness and behavioral changes into account as mediators should be helpful when developing any health promotion strategy plan.

Our findings conclude that use of social media platforms positively influenced awareness of public health behavioral changes and public protection against COVID-19.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION
• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• SCOPE OF THE STUDY
• RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
• RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• REVIEW OF THE STUDY
• CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF THE STUDY
• THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
• REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• INTRODUCTION
• RESEARCH DESIGN
• DATA TYPE AND SOURCES
• POPULATION OF THE STUDY AND SAMPLE USED
• DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT
• METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0      RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

• RESULT
• DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

 

Abbreviations

AVE: average variance extracted

CFA: confirmatory factor analysis

COVID-19: coronavirus disease

e-government: electronic government

H1: hypothesis 1

H2: hypothesis 2

H3: hypothesis 3

H4: hypothesis 4

H5: hypothesis 5

H6: hypothesis 6

SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

WHO: World Health Organization

 

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Infection with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a severe public health issue worldwide. COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus that recently emerged from China. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to prevent further spread of the pandemic in public and health care settings [Giustini, 2018]. Scholars have reported that evidence of the impact of social media on health knowledge, behavior, and outcomes show that these tools can be effective in meeting individual and population health needs. Most research addresses specific interventions and approaches, which vary widely in focus, target population, theoretical foundations, mode of delivery, functionality, and usability. Due to this wide variation, it is difficult to discover what works and how, and efforts to compare approaches are complicated [Korda et al, 2013]. General strategies and guidelines include social distancing, testing every suspected case, staying home, avoiding social gatherings, treating patients, and contact tracing  (Chan et al, 2020). However, some countries are taking stricter measures to contain the pandemic, such as lockdowns and mass testing.

Nigerian has been under nearly total lockdown in March, 2020. After only a few COVID-19 cases appeared around the country, the Nigerian government took extraordinary measures, including implementing strict emergency laws. Travel restrictions were imposed on passengers in Jordan; all unauthorized travel into and out of the country and between cities was halted. Non-pharmaceutical physical distancing interventions, such as extended university and school closures and workplace distancing, were introduced to reduce the impact of COVID-19. Public awareness and prevention of COVID-19 infection play important roles in disease control; a lack of reasonable knowledge of infectious diseases leads to low detection rates. Therefore, to stop the spread of COVID-19 infection in Nigeria, the Nigerian Ministry of Health launched specific national disease control measures, using several media campaigns [Allgaier et al, 2015], posters, and advertisements on television and printed media along with other methods to improve the awareness of this pandemic among the general population. The assessment of government websites and social media platforms for public awareness is important because it helps determine the impact of governmental prevention efforts and measures and gauges the need for intervention [Allgaier et al, 2015].

Researchers have indicated that most developing countries encounter serious difficulties in preventing the spread of infectious diseases due to inadequate medical facilities and lack of resources [Misra et al, 2018]. In light of the apparent weakness of health care systems in these countries, public awareness of infectious diseases leads to behavioral changes among the public, thereby representing partial treatment; notably, this awareness reduces the pressure and economic burden on medical facilities. To raise public awareness, social media platforms are considered to be effective tools that contribute to the real-time dissemination of information about the current status of the disease and give appropriate advice to the public on how to avoid being infected. Further, according to Gluskin et al [2014], social media platforms provide beneficial climate and socioeconomic data. Additionally, social media platforms have been shown to represent an essential source of communication that enables the creation and dissemination of information to people through the internet Laranjo et al (2015). It is worth mentioning here that social media platforms allow groups and individuals to exchange information about all subjects and issues, including members of minority groups or people who have no opportunity to express their opinions using other information sources. Researchers have argued that information and perspectives pertinent to issues associated with human health are revealed by informally using social media platforms away from official medical and health departments (Dubey et al, 2016).

1.2                                                  PROBLEM STATEMENT

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus [World Health Organization, 2020]. Cases of COVID-19 first emerged in late December 2019, when a mysterious illness was reported in Wuhan, China. The cause of the disease was soon confirmed as a novel coronavirus, and the infection has since spread to many countries worldwide and has become a pandemic disease [NewScientist, 2020]. During this period that the disease was confirm, there was total lockdown in those countries which made the one-on-one campaign too difficult to carryout. It was via several websites that published information about COVID-19 and that gave different instructions to their users about ways to prevent the spread of the virus, such as keeping a distance between themselves and others, using masks, and washing their hands (Hernández-García et al, 2020). Social media has become a source of disseminating information to the public. Many individuals will experience isolation during hospitalization or when quarantining at home [Pappot, 2020]. Social media can be an efficient source of information and an effective means for staying abreast of the vast amount of medical knowledge [McGowan, 2012].

1.3                                  AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this study was to examine the influence of social media platforms on public health protection against the COVID-19 pandemic via public health awareness and public health behavioral changes as mediating factors in Nigeria.

The objectives of this study are:

1. To study how social media has been used as a tool for social interaction and ongoing education, and facilitates collaboration between users.
2. To understand the definite benefits of social media for health communication in times of pandemic.

• To study how social media has been used to inform the general public on how to apply covid-19 safety measures.

1. To illustrate this social media using experiences from the perspective of large medical organisations and also identify the common pitfalls.

1.4                                           SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study are expected to be helpful and important for public health authorities and governments to understand who receives the intervention (message), the impact of social media platform campaigns, and the extent to which changes in public health behavior and health outcomes can be attributed to the intervention, in addition to determining how the disseminated information is perceived.

1.5                                                  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research focused on the role of social media campaigns on public health awareness of pandemic diseases such as COVID-19, particularly in Nigeria. Therefore, in this study, we attempt to answer the following questions:

• Does the use of social media platforms raise public health awareness of COVID-19 as a pandemic disease?
• Does the use of social media platforms increase public behavioral changes toward COVID-19 as a pandemic disease?
• Does the use of social media platforms increase public protection against COVID-19 as a pandemic disease?
• Do public health awareness and behavioral changes play important roles in enhancing the relationship between the use of social media platforms (interventions) and public health protection against COVID-19 as a pandemic disease?

1.6                                          SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Scope of this work focused on how social media has been used to bring a new dimension to healthcare by providing a common channel for healthcare professionals, patients and the public to communicate regarding health issues, with the potential to improve health outcomes.

It will discuss the definite benefits to the use of social media for health communication in times of pandemic where time urgency, physical distancing and the need to widely distribute information have compelled us to find alternative ways of working and learning. However, it is of prime importance that social media users monitor the information exchanged for quality and reliability, and respect patient confidentiality when participating in clinical discussions.

1.7                                                RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Based upon the above model, the following hypotheses were formulated concerning the role of social media campaigns in increasing public awareness of COVID-19 as a pandemic disease in Jordan:

Hypothesis 1 (H₁): The use of social media platforms is significantly increasing public health awareness.

Hypothesis 2 (H₂): Public health awareness is significantly contributing to public health behavioral change.

Hypothesis 3 (H₃): Public health behavioral change is significantly increasing public health protection.

Hypothesis 4 (H₄): The use of social media platforms is significantly increasing public health protection.

Hypothesis 5 (H₅): Public health awareness is significantly mediating the relationship between social media platforms and public health awareness.

Hypothesis 6 (H₆): Public health behavioral change is significantly mediating the relationship between the use of social media platforms and public health awareness.

1.8                                                  LIMITATION OF STUDY

As we all know that no human effort to achieve a set of goals goes without difficulties, certain constraints were encountered in the course of carrying out this project and they are as follows:-

1. Difficulty in information collection: I found it too difficult in laying hands of useful information regarding this work and this course me to visit different libraries and internet for solution.
2. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

• Time Constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9                                     PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuss the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study, chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.