Web search behaviors and infodemic attitudes regarding COVID-19 in Turkey: A framework study for improving response and informing policy on the COVID-19 infodemic


Çalışkan C., Özsezer G., Pay M., Demir G., Çelebi İ., Koçak H.

Frontiers in Public Health, cilt.10, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 10
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.948478
  • Dergi Adı: Frontiers in Public Health
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, disasters, pandemics, infodemic, web searches, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, fears COVID-19-related
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Copyright © 2022 Çalışkan, Özsezer, Pay, Demir, Çelebi and Koçak.Objective: This study aimed to develop a framework regarding COVID-19 infodemic response and policy informing through focusing on infodemic concepts circulating on the online search engine in Turkey in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak and comparing the contents of these concepts with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and disaster stages. Materials and methods: The universe of this descriptive epidemiological research consists of internet search activities on COVID-19 circulating online on Google Trends between March 10, 2020, when the first case was seen in Turkey, and June 01, 2020, when the lockdown restrictions were lifted. Findings: There was no internet trend regarding a misinformed attitude within the given date range. While an infodemic attitude toward superficial attitude and racist attitude in the internet environment was detected for 1 week, an infodemic attitude toward definitive attitude was detected for 2 weeks. The non-infodemic concepts were more common than the other infodemic attitudes. The infodemic concepts were able to reach Maslow's physiological, safety, and social need levels. With the infodemic concepts obtained, a COVID-19 development process framework was developed. The framework consists of three domains (COVID-19, applications and outcomes), including disaster phases and health/social impacts, built on seven public health epochs. Results: A systematized COVID-19 development process framework was modeled in order to conceptualize COVID-19 internet searches and to reveal the development processes and outcomes.