Social media medical misinformation: impact on mental health and vaccination decision among university students

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need of social media as a medium for gathering health-related information. Simultaneously, a slew of false information, primarily about COVID-19’s origin, dissemination, prevention, treatment, and fatality surfaced, making it difficult to distinguish fake from genuine material. However, the possible effects on mental health and the extent to which this influences our decisions, particularly regarding vaccination, are unknown. AIM: The purpose of this questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was to examine Lebanese University students’ perceptions of social media influence during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to measure the impact of misinformation on respondents’ mental health and vaccination decisions. METHODS: In total, 440 students took part and were asked to complete an online survey that included questions on social media trust, the “general health questionnaire index” (GHQ-12), and a scale measuring “attitude towards vaccination”. RESULTS: Our data demonstrated a low frequency of mental health disorders among Lebanese University students, which was correlated to frequent social media exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggested that students are more aware of misinformation and had lower rates of despair and anxiety than the general population. Furthermore, Facebook use was associated with worse attitude and behaviour towards vaccination (p = 0.001), but a better mental health. Twitter had the inverse effect (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: It is a necessity to use social media correctly in health-related topics, to push governments and platforms towards making decisions about false and invalidated posts.