Brief Informational Intervention for COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis

NCT04557241 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Indiana_CTSI_Agley_2020
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,017
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued to affect life in the United States, the important role of non-pharmaceutical preventive behaviors (such as wearing a face mask) in reducing harm has become clear. In parallel to the pandemic, researchers have observed an "infodemic" of misinformed or inconsistent narratives about COVID-19. There is growing evidence that misinformed COVID-19 narratives are associated with a wide variety of undesirable behavior (e.g., burning down cell towers). Further, individuals' adherence to recommended COVID-19 preventive guidelines has been inconsistent, and such mandates have engendered opposition and controversy. Recent research suggests the possibility that trust in science and scientists may be an important thread to weave throughout these seemingly disparate components of the modern public health landscape. Thus, this paper describes the protocol for a randomized trial of a brief, digital intervention to increase trust in science. The objective of this trial is to examine if exposure to a curated infographic can increase trust in science, reduce believability of misinformed narratives, and increase likelihood to engage in preventive behaviors.

Conditions

COVID19 Behavioral Prophylaxis

Keywords

misinformation; trust; prevention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change in trust in science

  21-item scale developed by Nadelson et al \[1\] called the Trust in Science Inventory. It is scored from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates low trust and 5 indicates high trust.

  Pre-intervention and immediately post-intervention

• Believability profiles

  Will be computed using latent profile analysis of believability measures. These measures were developed and first used in our recent study of COVID-19 narratives \[2\]. Response options for these measures used well-established semantic differential responses for believability of different statements (e.g., as in Herzberg et al.) \[3\] ranging from \[1: Extremely unbelievable\] to \[7: Extremely believable\]. Exact measures used to generate profiles for this study will be available in the published protocol paper (to be submitted).

  Immediately post-intervention

• Preventive behavioral intentions

  A series of six questions based on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended COVID-19 preventive behaviors. \[4\] Questions will be written according to Azjen's guide to intention questionnaires \[5\].

  Immediately post-intervention

Other Outcomes (7)

• Political orientation (covariate 1)

  Immediately post-intervention

• Religious commitment (covariate 2)

  Immediately post-intervention

• Sociodemographics (covariates 3 through 6)

  Immediately post-intervention

Study Arms (2)

Brief Intervention arm

EXPERIMENTAL

The primary intervention in this study will be an infographic that is designed to build trust in the scientific process (as described in the Intervention section). This arm will introduce the intervention and then instruct the participant to review it carefully (including a mandated pause on the infographic screen) before continuing to the remaining data collection.

Behavioral: Brief informational infographic

Placebo Control arm

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

The comparator in this study will be a control ("placebo") infographic that is completely unrelated to science (As described in the Placebo Control section). This arm will introduce the control infographic and then instruct the participant to review it carefully (including a mandated pause on the infographic screen) before continuing to the remaining data collection.

Behavioral: Placebo control (non-behavioral infographic)

Interventions

Brief informational infographic BEHAVIORAL

The primary intervention in this study will be an infographic that is designed to build trust in the scientific process. Infographics are preferable to narratives or text because they center visuals as part of the storytelling process and facilitate cognitive information processing, knowledge absorption, and enhanced persuasion. The study's infographic design will follow best practices in health communication. The message will be simple and jargon free. Visuals will include individuals (scientists), charts, text, and numbers. Attention will be paid to images, color, frames, representation, and composition (e.g., how the elements in the infographic are organized to show their relationship to each other).

Brief Intervention arm

Placebo control (non-behavioral infographic) BEHAVIORAL

The comparator in this study will be a control ("placebo") infographic that is completely unrelated to science (e.g., about cats), but that is developed using the same communication and graphical style.

Placebo Control arm

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• To be included, participants must be identified by Prolific as part of a nationally-representative sample. Participants will also be required to be age 18 or older, and to reside in the United States.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Indiana University: lead
• Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Digital Intervention (Prolific Study Panel)

Bloomington, Indiana, 47404, United States

Location

Related Publications (11)

• Nadelson L, Jorcyk C, Yang D, et al. I just don't trust them: The development and validation of an assessment instrument to measure trust in science and scientists. School Science and Mathematics. 2014;114(2):76-86.

  BACKGROUND

• Agley J, Xiao Y. Existence of differential belief profiles of COVID-19 narratives: The role of trust in science. Research Square. 2020;Preprint.

  BACKGROUND

• Herzberg KN, Sheppard SC, Forsyth JP, Crede M, Earleywine M, Eifert GH. The Believability of Anxious Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire (BAFT): a psychometric evaluation of cognitive fusion in a nonclinical and highly anxious community sample. Psychol Assess. 2012 Dec;24(4):877-91. doi: 10.1037/a0027782. Epub 2012 Apr 9.

  PMID: 22486595 BACKGROUND

• CDC. How to protect yourself & others. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html. Published 2020. Accessed July 17, 2020.

  BACKGROUND

• Ajzen I. Theory of planned behavior questionnaire. Measurement Instrument Database for Social Science. https://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/tpb.construction.pdf. Published 2013. Accessed July 17, 2020.

  BACKGROUND

• Agley J. Assessing changes in US public trust in science amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health. 2020 Jun;183:122-125. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.05.004. Epub 2020 May 13.

  PMID: 32405095 BACKGROUND

• Bruine de Bruin W. Age Differences in COVID-19 Risk Perceptions and Mental Health: Evidence From a National U.S. Survey Conducted in March 2020. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Jan 18;76(2):e24-e29. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa074.

  PMID: 32470120 BACKGROUND

• Yildirim M, Guler A. COVID-19 severity, self-efficacy, knowledge, preventive behaviors, and mental health in Turkey. Death Stud. 2022;46(4):979-986. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1793434. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

  PMID: 32673183 BACKGROUND

• Chambon M, Dalege J, Elberse JE, Harreveld Fv. A psychological network approach to factors related to preventive behaviors during pandemics: A European COVID-19 study. PsyArXiv. 2020:https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/es31245v.

  BACKGROUND

• Agley J, Xiao Y, Thompson EE, Chen X, Golzarri-Arroyo L. Intervening on Trust in Science to Reduce Belief in COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase COVID-19 Preventive Behavioral Intentions: Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Oct 14;23(10):e32425. doi: 10.2196/32425.

  PMID: 34581678 DERIVED

• Agley J, Xiao Y, Thompson EE, Golzarri-Arroyo L. COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis: Protocol for a Randomized Trial of a Brief Informational Intervention. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Dec 7;9(12):e24383. doi: 10.2196/24383.

  PMID: 33175694 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Communication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Although this is, in practice, a double-blind study since participants will be unaware that they are randomized and all study mechanics will be processed by computer, analysts will not be blinded to the meaning of the assignment variable. However, two independent consultant analysts have been retained to verify all results and subsequent interpretation.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 16, 2020
• First Posted: September 21, 2020
• Study Start: January 14, 2020
• Primary Completion: January 14, 2021
• Study Completion: January 31, 2021
• Last Updated: February 9, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: Fully de-identified data will be made available along with the publication of the primary results paper from this study.

Locations

US (1)