Exploring the Role of Infodemics in People’s Incompliance with Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 in Conflict Settings (Mixed Method Study)
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Sampling
2.3. Data Collection
2.4. Data Analysis and Data Instrument
2.4.1. Stringency Index SI
2.4.2. Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports
2.4.3. Offline Social Listening “In-Depth Interviews”
- ○
- Online social listening, which includes (tracking users’ reactions to relevant COVIDs topics on social media platforms augmented by artificial intelligence; monitoring applications) [31].
- ○
- Offline social listening, which includes (in-depth interviews, surveys, and audience observation…).
- ○
- Interpreting the data by reading each transcript and underlining statements using NVIVO.
- ○
- All underlined statements were coded across each interview, undergoing inductive analysis.
- ○
- All codes were grouped into six themes.
- ○
- All statements in all themes were read to reflect the overarching participant’s perceptions about the impact of the COVIDs infodemic in Yemen.
3. Results
3.1. The Containment Measures in Yemen
3.2. The Human Movement after the Introduction of Containment Measures during 2020 and 2021 in Yemen
4. Qualitative Themes
4.1. People’s Belief in COVID-19 in Yemen
4.1.1. COVID-19 Will Not Reach Yemen
“…I have made a YouTube video interviewing people, where I asked them: what do you think of COVID? do you have any concerns about COVID? or are you afraid of COVID? Their answers were as follow: we have no fear of COVID, we didn’t have any fear from the air jets and their air strikes and bombs falling down on us and so a disease in China will not scare us, it is impossible for the disease to reach Yemen…”informant 5
4.1.2. People Believed in COVID after the Official Announcement of the First Case
“…after the ER in hospitals were full with COVID patients and there were many deaths, some started to understand the situation but some just said this is a normal disease like any other disease and if we were meant to die then its all up to Allah…”informant 3
“…people started to believe in COVID-19 when some of their relatives got the disease. Only then they have realized that it actually exists…”informant 8
4.2. Compliance with Preventive Measures
4.2.1. Partial Compliance during the First Wave
“…Honestly there were some sort of compliance with COVID preventive measures. But only a small fraction of the population complied with those restrictions, and from this fraction some complied very strictly and some has partially complied…”informant 1
“…This compliance was during the 1st wave from April till August in which many old people died, and people were denying COVID but deep inside they were afraid to die, so there was fear of dying of COVID which caused them to also deny COVID, because people deny what they are afraid of…”informant 6
4.2.2. The Preventive Measures Applied by the Government Intensified the Public’s Compliance
“…people were waiting for the government to tell them that COVID does really exist even if it’s there and they can see it, they want the government to start announcing its existence…”informant 5
“…People complied very strictly with preventive measure at the beginning, it was not allowed to go to markets without masks and sanitizers, but now all these precautions have vanished completely…”informant 3
“…it was a compliance to only follow the rules and not to avoid COVID, for example children were not allowed to go to schools but they would go out and play at the street with other children…”informant 10
“…many people were planning to celebrate their weddings in huge weeding halls but cancelled it and only made a small ceremony for close friends and family…”informant 6
4.2.3. Less Compliance during the Second Wave
“…when the second wave came no one cared at all, even at the gate of the university the security would ask you where’s your mask and I would show them the mask in my hand without out wearing it and they would let me in…”informant 1
“…I even had COVID for a whole month I had all the COVID symptoms, and all my nine colleagues got sick, and so during the second wave a huge proportion of the population got COVID because no one cared for preventive measures and restrictions in the universities, markets or mosques…”informant 1
“…my whole family got sick all my colleagues got sick almost half of my cohort in the university got sick no one who I have known didn’t get sick at that time during the 2nd wave…”informant 2
4.2.4. Government Denial of COVID-19 and Limited Capacity to Inform the Public of Recent Updates
“…I think that people showed more compliance during the 1st wave because schools and universities were forced to shut down by the government, but during the second wave, those restriction were dropped off and eased…”informant 2
“…many got sick, and unfortunately, no one was declaring the number of cases or deaths although many died during that period but no one knew. If they were to announce the actual cases and deaths people would have paid attention to COVID measures. At that time everyone knew how badly affected our health system was due to the ongoing war and the lack of medical supplies and people were afraid of going to hospitals…”informant 10
4.3. The Impact of Infodemic on Compliance
4.3.1. Lack of Access to Reliable Information and Information Voids
“…unfortunately, during COVID our government and health ministry didn’t specify some sources or websites in which a person could search in for reliable information or guidelines…”informant 2
“…our community is still let me put it this way, we are still lacking the means and tools that help us to reach accurate information and so the search capability for our community is still very poor and the great majority are relying on social media and that’s a huge mistake, but there are only few who are specialized or aware enough to look for the information from its main source…”informant 4
“…unfortunately in our community even Journalists and media creators don’t check their sources or they even publish without any sources, those behaviours have contributed to the spread of false information, many popular influencers, journalists, social activists or even doctors have spread false information with no sources and people trusted their misinformation…”informant 12
4.3.2. The Pandemic’s Indicator in Yemen and How the Public Got Their COVID Updates
“…the governmental official media channels tried to cover up any information about COVID-19…”informant 8
“…Unfortunately I am from those people that I measure the extent to which COVID-19 is spread from the number of deaths and funerals posted on Facebook, because there were no reliable source in which I can use to give me true daily updates of the cases and deaths or recovery numbers like other countries…”informant 5
“…doctors in Yemen has done something to aware people in stating that hospitals were full with COVID-19 cases, that information were published only on social media…”informant 9
4.3.3. Traditional Measures Are Prioritized over Preventive Measures
“…when information circulate the internet that drinking water could help you avoid COVID people will tend to drink more water rather than complying with hard and strict measures like wearing a mask all day long. So, in short people take new easy rumours like herbal remedies and traditional methods as a substitute to the preventive measures advised by the WHO…”informant 7
“…one of the main reasons that stopped people from complying with preventive measures is the overwhelming amount of fake news on social media…”informant 2
4.3.4. COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media Changed the Public Perception of COVID-19
“…After many people had COVID-19 and got cured many started to believe that COVID is like a normal flue or a cold…”informant 11
“…our community came up with new names for COVID like Mokarfas or Gasea’a which is supposed to be a lighter version of a new disease but it’s not the COVID everyone is afraid of…”informant 1
4.3.5. Social Pressure and Stigma against Anyone Who Might Comply with the WHO Guidelines
“…the rule was if you wear a mask then you have COVID…”informant 2
“…people bullied me and accused me of having COVID and I thought by complying with COVID measures I will be a source or stress to people around me and took the mask off…”informant 7
“…. In short even if you want to act responsibly and you want to comply with preventive measure there will be a huge social pressure on you not to comply…”informant 11
“…many wanted to wear mask but out of shame and fear to be bullied they stopped complying with wearing masks in public areas…”informant 9
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Qualitative Themes | Specific Idea/Code |
---|---|
| COVID-19 will not reach Yemen. |
People believed in COVID after the official announcement of the first case. | |
| Partial compliance during the first wave. |
The Preventive measures applied by the government intensified the public’s compliance. | |
Less compliance during the second wave. | |
Government denial of COVID and limited capacity to inform the public of recent updates. | |
| Lack of access to reliable information and information voids. |
The pandemic’s indicator in Yemen and how the public got their COVID updates. | |
Traditional measures are prioritized over preventive measures. | |
COVID-19 misinformation on social media changed the public perception of COVID-19. | |
Social pressure and stigma against anyone who might comply and follow the WHO guidelines. |
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Al-Aghbari, A.A.; Hassan, O.E.H.; Dar Iang, M.; Jahn, A.; Horstick, O.; Dureab, F. Exploring the Role of Infodemics in People’s Incompliance with Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 in Conflict Settings (Mixed Method Study). Healthcare 2023, 11, 952. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070952
Al-Aghbari AA, Hassan OEH, Dar Iang M, Jahn A, Horstick O, Dureab F. Exploring the Role of Infodemics in People’s Incompliance with Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 in Conflict Settings (Mixed Method Study). Healthcare. 2023; 11(7):952. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070952
Chicago/Turabian StyleAl-Aghbari, Ahmed Asa’ad, Ola El Hajj Hassan, Maureen Dar Iang, Albrecht Jahn, Olaf Horstick, and Fekri Dureab. 2023. "Exploring the Role of Infodemics in People’s Incompliance with Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 in Conflict Settings (Mixed Method Study)" Healthcare 11, no. 7: 952. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070952