The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media

Abstract Background Social media use has become a mainstay of communication and with that comes the exchange of factual and non-factual information. Social media has given many people the opportunity to speak their opinions without repercussions and create coalitionS of like-minded people. This also...

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Autores principales:	Staci L Benoit, Rachel F. Mauldin
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Social media Vaccine Anti-vax Vaccine denier Facebook Twitter Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f148b3d8fb1a44f7b18034f2429a75f8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f148b3d8fb1a44f7b18034f2429a75f82021-11-21T12:11:27ZThe “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media10.1186/s12889-021-12114-81471-2458https://doaj.org/article/f148b3d8fb1a44f7b18034f2429a75f82021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12114-8https://doaj.org/toc/1471-2458Abstract Background Social media use has become a mainstay of communication and with that comes the exchange of factual and non-factual information. Social media has given many people the opportunity to speak their opinions without repercussions and create coalitionS of like-minded people. This also has led to the development of a community know as anti-vaxxers or vaccine deniers. This research explores the extent to which vaccine knowledge has reached on social media. Methods This cross sectional research explored the relationship between the spread of information regarding vaccines in relation to social media use. A sample of 2515 people over the age of 18 around the world completed the survey via a link distributed on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. A series of questions on vaccine knowledge and beliefs were compounded to create an individual’s “knowledge score” and a “belief score”. Knowledge scores were ranked from low knowledge to high knowledge with increasing scores. Belief scores were ranked from belief in myths to disbelief in myths with higher scores. This score was then analysed, using a Welch test and post hoc testing when applicable, across demographics and questions relating to social media use. Results Significant relations were found in both the knowledge and belief categories, many of which were similar findings between the two. North Americans had significantly lower knowledge and belief scores compared to all other continents. While the majority of people primarily use Facebook, Twitter users were significantly more knowledgeable. It was also found that higher education was correlated with higher knowledge and belief scores. Conclusions Overall, these correlations are important in determining ways to intervene into the anti-vax movement through the use of social media. Cross demographics were not analysed in this study but could be in future studies. To better understand the social media exposures related to vaccine information a follow up structured interview research study would be beneficial. Note that due to the cross sectional nature of this study, causal relationships could not be made.Staci L BenoitRachel F. MauldinBMCarticleSocial mediaVaccineAnti-vaxVaccine denierFacebookTwitterPublic aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENBMC Public Health, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Social media Vaccine Anti-vax Vaccine denier Facebook Twitter Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Social media Vaccine Anti-vax Vaccine denier Facebook Twitter Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Staci L Benoit Rachel F. Mauldin The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
description	Abstract Background Social media use has become a mainstay of communication and with that comes the exchange of factual and non-factual information. Social media has given many people the opportunity to speak their opinions without repercussions and create coalitionS of like-minded people. This also has led to the development of a community know as anti-vaxxers or vaccine deniers. This research explores the extent to which vaccine knowledge has reached on social media. Methods This cross sectional research explored the relationship between the spread of information regarding vaccines in relation to social media use. A sample of 2515 people over the age of 18 around the world completed the survey via a link distributed on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. A series of questions on vaccine knowledge and beliefs were compounded to create an individual’s “knowledge score” and a “belief score”. Knowledge scores were ranked from low knowledge to high knowledge with increasing scores. Belief scores were ranked from belief in myths to disbelief in myths with higher scores. This score was then analysed, using a Welch test and post hoc testing when applicable, across demographics and questions relating to social media use. Results Significant relations were found in both the knowledge and belief categories, many of which were similar findings between the two. North Americans had significantly lower knowledge and belief scores compared to all other continents. While the majority of people primarily use Facebook, Twitter users were significantly more knowledgeable. It was also found that higher education was correlated with higher knowledge and belief scores. Conclusions Overall, these correlations are important in determining ways to intervene into the anti-vax movement through the use of social media. Cross demographics were not analysed in this study but could be in future studies. To better understand the social media exposures related to vaccine information a follow up structured interview research study would be beneficial. Note that due to the cross sectional nature of this study, causal relationships could not be made.
format	article
author	Staci L Benoit Rachel F. Mauldin
author_facet	Staci L Benoit Rachel F. Mauldin
author_sort	Staci L Benoit
title	The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
title_short	The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
title_full	The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
title_fullStr	The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
title_full_unstemmed	The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
title_sort	“anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f148b3d8fb1a44f7b18034f2429a75f8
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The “anti-vax” movement: a quantitative report on vaccine beliefs and knowledge across social media

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