Role of Health Literacy in Promoting the Ability to Detect Fake News on Covid-19: A Structural Equation Model

The ability to detect fake news of the Covid-19 disease is known as one of the most influential cases in dealing with fake news and health, which requires the knowledge and strategies of people to deal with the news of this dangerous disease, and there are factors involved in improving this ability. Health literacy can play a role in this field by creating the ability to access information, reading skills, understanding and understanding information, evaluating it, making decisions and using information correctly. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of health literacy in improving the ability to recognize fake news of Covid-19 among the students of Razi University of Kermanshah.

This research is of an applied type, which was carried out using a survey method with a descriptive-correlation approach. The statistical population of this research consists of students of Razi University (10570 people) and 371 people were selected as sample members by stratified random sampling method. In order to examine the health literacy status of students, the standard health literacy questionnaire (Montazeri, Tavousi, Rakhshani, Azin, Jahangiri, Ebadi et al., 2014) including 5 components (access, reading skills, comprehension, evaluation, decision-making, and application of health information) was used. In order to measure the recognition of fake news of Covid-19 from the questionnaire made by the researcher, the ability to recognize fake news of Covid-19 based on the 8 components of the IFLA statement (checking the source, reading the text of the news, checking the agreement of other sources on the topic, checking the supporting sources, checking the news before sharing it, checking the humor or seriousness of the news, avoiding personal prejudices and asking specialists) have been used in 2021. The validity of the tools was confirmed by consulting with experts and the reliability was also confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test, and descriptive (mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values) and inferential statistics (Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling) were used to analyze the findings using SPSS and Amos software.

The results of the research showed that the students' health literacy is higher than the average value (3.80) and the ability to recognize fake news of Covid-19 (3.26) was slightly higher than the average level. Also, the findings showed that there is a positive relationship between the ability to detect fake news of Covid-19 and health literacy, and health literacy has an effect on the ability to detect fake news of Covid-19 with a path coefficient of 0.33. Also, health literacy with a path coefficient of 0.85 on the component of source review, with a path coefficient of 0.77 on the component of reading news text, with a path coefficient of 0.89 on the component of examining the agreement of other sources on the subject, with a path coefficient of 0.87 on the component. Investigating the sources of support with a path coefficient of 0.70 has an effect on the component of checking the news before sharing it, with a path coefficient of 0.59 on the component of evaluating the humor or seriousness of the news, and with a path coefficient of 0.73 on the component of avoiding personal prejudices. But it had no effect on the component of asking specialists.

Considering that there is a positive and effective relationship between health literacy and the ability to recognize fake news related to the disease of Covid-19, training and necessary measures should be taken to improve the health literacy of students in order to improve the skills of recognizing fake news of the disease. Also, in terms of the great importance of the problem of detecting fake news of the corona disease as a necessity that arose after the spread of fake news related to this disease, and especially its determining effect on the protection of people's health, it is necessary to pay more attention to the necessity of using It should be paid. Obviously, in this regard, governments can help the peace and health of the people by adopting media, research and educational policies of the society, especially to the population groups that are most harmed by these rumors. Also, university libraries can cooperate with the university health center to educate and improve students' health literacy and design and organize training courses and prepare various appropriate resources such as brochures and posters in the form of infographics in the field of identifying fake news about Corona and expose them to students. Therefore, considering its importance for the individual, society and the government, it is necessary to carry out such plans to accurately and correctly reach the dimensions of access to this ability, so that the facts are provided to the individuals, society and the government. The results of this research will be applied in educational programs of universities and schools, the Ministry of Health, media and social networks.