Health Literacy and Critical Lecture as Key Elements to Detect and Reply to Nutrition Misinformation on Social Media: Analysis between Spanish Healthcare Professionals

Sergio Segado-Fernández, María del Carmen Lozano-Estevan, Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez, Carlos Ruiz-Núñez, Pedro Jesús Jiménez Hidalgo, Invención Fernández-Quijano, Liliana González-Rodríguez, Azucena Santillán-García () and Ivan Herrera-Peco ()
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Sergio Segado-Fernández: Department of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Canarias, Calle Inocencio García, 1, La Orotava, 38300 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
María del Carmen Lozano-Estevan: VALORNUT-UCM (920030) Research Group, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez: Nursing Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alfonso X el Sabio University, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Ruiz-Núñez: Phd Student Program in Biomedicine, Translational Research and New Health Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Malaga Blvr. Louis Pasteur, 29010 Málaga, Spain
Pedro Jesús Jiménez Hidalgo: Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery Service, Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Ctra. Gral. del Rosario, 145, 38010 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Invención Fernández-Quijano: Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain
Liliana González-Rodríguez: VALORNUT-UCM (920030) Research Group, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Azucena Santillán-García: Nursing Department, Valencia International University, C/Pintor Sorolla 21, 46002 Valencia, Spain
Ivan Herrera-Peco: Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Avenida Universidad, 1, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28691 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Health misinformation about nutrition and other health aspects on social media is a current public health concern. Healthcare professionals play an essential role in efforts to detect and correct it. The present study focuses on analyzing the use of competencies associated with training in methodology, health literacy, and critical lecture in order to detect sources of health misinformation that use scientific articles to support their false information. A qualitative study was conducted between 15 and 30 January 2022, wherein the participants were recruited from active users from a nutrition conversation on Twitter, diets, and cancer and defined themselves as healthcare professionals. This study demonstrates that health literacy and critical lecture competencies allow for the detection of more misinformation messages and are associated with a high rate of responses to users that spread the misinformation messages. Finally, this study proposes the necessity of developing actions to improve health literacy and critical lecture competencies between healthcare professionals. However, in order to achieve this, health authorities must develop strategies to psychologically support those healthcare professionals faced with bullying as a result of their activity on social media debunking health hoaxes.

Keywords: detection; health misinformation; healthcare professionals; public health; social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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