The effects of corrective information about disease epidemics and outbreaks: Evidence from Zika and yellow fever in Brazil
The effects of corrective information about disease epidemics and outbreaks: Evidence from Zika and yellow fever in Brazil
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DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.aaw7449
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发表时间：
2020-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Zeitzoff, Thomas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Carey, John M.;Chi, Victoria;Zeitzoff, Thomas
疾病流行和暴发经常产生阴谋论和误解，误导人们关于他们面临的风险和如何最好地保护自己。我们调查旨在打击有关寨卡疫情和随后在巴西爆发的黄热病的虚假和无根据信息的干预措施的有效性。一项具有全国代表性的调查结果显示，人们普遍相信关于寨卡病毒的阴谋论和其他误解。此外，来自三个预先登记的调查实验的结果表明，在流行病和暴发期间努力消除对疾病的误解可能并不总是有效的。我们发现，纠正信息不仅无法减少有针对性的寨卡病毒误解，而且还降低了其他关于寨卡病毒的信念的准确性。此外，尽管关于黄热病这一众所周知的威胁的纠正信息更有效，但这些纠正都不影响对病媒控制政策的支持或从事预防性行为的意图。
Disease epidemics and outbreaks often generate conspiracy theories and misperceptions that mislead people about the risks they face and how best to protect themselves. We investigate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at combating false and unsupported information about the Zika epidemic and subsequent yellow fever outbreak in Brazil. Results from a nationally representative survey show that conspiracy theories and other misperceptions about Zika are widely believed. Moreover, results from three preregistered survey experiments suggest that efforts to counter misperceptions about diseases during epidemics and outbreaks may not always be effective. We find that corrective information not only fails to reduce targeted Zika misperceptions but also reduces the accuracy of other beliefs about the disease. In addition, although corrective information about the better-known threat from yellow fever was more effective, none of these corrections affected support for vector control policies or intentions to engage in preventive behavior.