Health-Related Infodemic Perception among Nursing and Non-Nursing Students: A Comparative Study

Background: Increasing digitalization allows for faster information dissemination and 
infodemic. An efficient public health response can be hampered by infodemics, which also 
cause misunderstanding and mistrust among people. Hence, the current study aimed to 
compare nursing and non-nursing students regarding health-related infodemic perception. 
Subjects & Methods: Design: Comparative cross-sectional descriptive research design was 
used where 820 students were randomly enrolled from the faculty of nursing and faculty of 
arts. Tools: (1) Socio-demographic characteristics; (2) Questionnaire to assess students’ 
knowledge, attitude, and the role of social media in spreading health-related infodemic; and 
(3) Arabic version of Electronic Health Literacy Scale. Results: Only 26% of students were 
familiar with the concept of health-related infodemic. Social media platforms like Facebook 
(79.5%) and YouTube (46.3%) played a significant role in the dissemination of false and 
misleading health information. Both nursing (59%) and non-nursing (57.6%) students were 
aware of the topic of health-related infodemic. Nursing students scored lower on e-health 
literacy (77.3%). Ultimately, a plethora of nursing (82.7%) and non-nursing (81.2%) students 
had negative attitudes regarding health-related infodemic. Conclusion: Both nursing and 
non-nursing students showed unfavorable attitudes toward the health information epidemic. 
Nursing students knew more about health-related infodemics, despite having lower e-health 
literacy scores than non-nursing students. As students become more knowledgeable and 
literate about health-related infodemic, they consequently develop a negative attitude toward 
it. Recommendations: Governments must build resilience to misinformation and engage and 
empower communities to take positive actions particularly during outbreaks to control 
infodemics and safeguard the public's health.