Class

Article

Faculty Mentor

Carma Miller

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Abstract

PROBLEM: The media has become a normalized part of American society. The use of media in reporting COVID-19 is a prime example of how media can impact a public's medical knowledge and opinion. The main concern: are people properly filtering the influx of information between evidence-based practices and medical opinion? With the accessibility of information comes a likelihood that the public isn't doing their part to fact-check what they're given. Inaccurate information can cause health issues among the public. STUDY DESIGN: The study design will be a representational online survey sent to American Adults ages 18 years and older. Univariate-ANOVA analyses were done to investigate the significance of age, preference of resource, and application of information to the likelihood of media source use and the likelihood of checking for accuracy. RESULTS: Age is not a significant factor in either use of media sources for medical information or checking for accuracy of that information. Preference of media or medical professional as a first resource and application were both significant in the likelihood of media source use. Application of information derived from media sources was the only significant factor in the likelihood of checking for accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the American adult population are likely to use media sources for medical information, check for its accuracy, and apply this information. The hypothesis can be denied as the results showed that media sources are not consulted before medical professionals and that preference has no significance in the likelihood of accuracy checks. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 12-1 p.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/83570709111?pwd=dGpYQzZvT3dqdHdGNjMzaVZ3QnFLUT09

Location

Logan, UT

Start Date

4-11-2021 12:00 AM

Included in

Life Sciences Commons

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Apr 11th, 12:00 AM

Medicine and the Media

Logan, UT

PROBLEM: The media has become a normalized part of American society. The use of media in reporting COVID-19 is a prime example of how media can impact a public's medical knowledge and opinion. The main concern: are people properly filtering the influx of information between evidence-based practices and medical opinion? With the accessibility of information comes a likelihood that the public isn't doing their part to fact-check what they're given. Inaccurate information can cause health issues among the public. STUDY DESIGN: The study design will be a representational online survey sent to American Adults ages 18 years and older. Univariate-ANOVA analyses were done to investigate the significance of age, preference of resource, and application of information to the likelihood of media source use and the likelihood of checking for accuracy. RESULTS: Age is not a significant factor in either use of media sources for medical information or checking for accuracy of that information. Preference of media or medical professional as a first resource and application were both significant in the likelihood of media source use. Application of information derived from media sources was the only significant factor in the likelihood of checking for accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the American adult population are likely to use media sources for medical information, check for its accuracy, and apply this information. The hypothesis can be denied as the results showed that media sources are not consulted before medical professionals and that preference has no significance in the likelihood of accuracy checks. Presentation Time: Wednesday, 12-1 p.m. Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/83570709111?pwd=dGpYQzZvT3dqdHdGNjMzaVZ3QnFLUT09