Health Misinformation

Research on health misinformation has grown rapidly as concerns about the potential harmful effects of health misinformation on individuals and society intensify amid a “post-truth” era. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview of current research and evidence concerning the many facets of health misinformation, including its sources, prevalence, characteristics (both content and diffusion features), impact, and mitigation. We conclude that health misinformation originates from many sources, most notably mass and social media; is fairly prevalent, both in interpersonal and mediated settings; and tends to feature negative sentiments, anecdotal evidence, and anti-science narratives. Although there is no conclusive evidence that health misinformation spreads more broadly than scientific information, health misinformation reliably leads to misperceptions on health issues. Efforts to mitigate the impact of health misinformation show early promise in correcting misperceptions. We offer several directions for future research.

Health Misinformation

10.31234/osf.io/6mrgv ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoli Nan ◽

Yuan Wang ◽

Kathryn Thier

Keyword(s):

Scientific Information ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Issues ◽

The Many ◽

Many Sources ◽

Feature Negative ◽

The Impact ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Research on health misinformation has grown rapidly as concerns about the potential harmful effects of health misinformation on individuals and society intensify amid a “post-truth” era. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview of current research and evidence concerning the many facets of health misinformation, including its sources, prevalence, characteristics (both content and diffusion features), impact, and mitigation. We conclude that health misinformation originates from many sources, most notably mass and social media, is fairly prevalent, both in interpersonal and mediated settings, and tends to feature negative sentiments, anecdotal evidence, and anti-science narratives. While there is no conclusive evidence that health misinformation spreads more broadly than scientific information, health misinformation reliably leads to misperceptions on health issues. Efforts to mitigate the impact of health misinformation show early promise in correcting misperceptions. We offer several directions for future research, including a call for more investigations on the impact of health misinformation and correcting messages on actual behaviors.

Health Misinformation

10.31219/osf.io/uzbc7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoli Nan ◽

Yuan Wang ◽

Kathryn Thier

Keyword(s):

Scientific Information ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Issues ◽

The Many ◽

Many Sources ◽

Feature Negative ◽

The Impact ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Research on health misinformation has grown rapidly as concerns about the potential harmful effects of health misinformation on individuals and society intensify amid a “post-truth” era. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview of current research and evidence concerning the many facets of health misinformation, including its sources, prevalence, characteristics (both content and diffusion features), impact, and mitigation. We conclude that health misinformation originates from many sources, most notably mass and social media; is fairly prevalent, both ininterpersonal and mediated settings; and tends to feature negative sentiments, anecdotal evidence, and anti-science narratives. Although there is no conclusive evidence that health misinformation spreads more broadly than scientific information, health misinformation reliably leads to misperceptions on health issues. Efforts to mitigate the impact of health misinformation show early promise in correcting misperceptions. We offer several directions for future research.

Poverty Reduction Through Microfinance

10.4018/978-1-7998-4646-8.ch008 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 187-216

Keyword(s):

Rural Women ◽

Poverty Reduction ◽

Research Trends ◽

Future Research ◽

Poor People ◽

African Countries ◽

Extreme Poverty ◽

The Many ◽

The Impact ◽

Essential Path

Microfinance is believed by many people in Africa to allow poor people to protect, diversify, and increase their sources of income, which is known to be the essential path out of poverty and hunger. This chapter examines whether microfinance can really help to reduce poverty. The enduring question is: Can microfinance be the game changer that will lift the many poor rural women and men in Africa out of the misery of extreme poverty? Is this strategy bliss or myth? First, the author provides a context and rationale for microfinance in African countries. Second, the chapter follows a brief overview of the literature on the impact of microfinance on women's empowerment and whether credit lending transactions benefit the intended recipients. Finally, the chapter reviews the arguments of both sides of the debate and draws out future research trends.

The impact of polygamy on women's mental health: a systematic review

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences ◽

10.1017/s2045796012000121 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 47-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

L. D. Shepard

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Work Practice ◽

Personal Communication ◽

Social Work Practice ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Issues ◽

Eligibility Criteria ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Aims.The purpose of this systematic review is to identify and appraise the present state of prevalence research on the mental health of polygynous women, or plural wives, and to summarize its implications for future research and social work practice.Methods.PsycInfo (1967 to November 2011) and Medline (1985 to November 2011) databases, systematic bibliography hand-searches, personal communication with a leading expert, and gray literature searching were applied in a systematic literature search of the prevalence of mental-health issues in polygynous women compared to monogamous women. Twenty-two studies meeting eligibility criteria were identified. Study characteristics, methods and findings were systematically extracted and appraised for quality.Results.The identified studies are of mixed methodological quality, but generally suggest a more significant prevalence of mental-health issues in polygynous women compared to monogamous women. Individual studies report a higher prevalence of somatization, depression, anxiety, hostility, psychoticism and psychiatric disorder in polygynous wives as well as reduced life and marital satisfaction, problematic family functioning and low self-esteem.Conclusions.The current state of the research reveals with moderate confidence, a more significant prevalence of mental-health issues in polygynous women as compared to monogamous women. Implications for practice and research are indicated.

Exploring the Impact of Medical Brain Drain on Child Health in 188 Countries over 2000–2015

Societies ◽

10.3390/soc10040073 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 73

Author(s):

Amm Quamruzzaman

Keyword(s):

Child Health ◽

Brain Drain ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Future Research ◽

Curvilinear Relationship ◽

Policy Concern ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

Fixed Effects Regression ◽

Medical brain drain has been a policy concern in recent years when many countries are struggling with health workforce shortages. Some suggest that wealthy countries only exacerbate this problem by recruiting internationally trained health professionals. Little research has considered the impact of medical brain drain on child health in the sending society, and the few empirical analyses that exist find no conclusive evidence. To fill this gap, I test the underlying mechanisms through which medical brain drain may affect child health in scores of countries. I use a panel dataset covering 188 countries over the period 2000–2015. The findings from fixed-effects regression models suggest that medical brain drain negatively affects child health and that there is a curvilinear relationship between the two. The effects on child health are stronger in countries approximately in the middle of the medical brain drain scale, and weaker on both ends. The implications of the findings for policy and future research are highlighted.

Exploring the impact of unstable terminals on branch support values in paleontological data

Paleobiology ◽

10.1017/pab.2020.64 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Jorge R. Flores ◽

Samuli Lehtonen ◽

Jaakko Hyvönen

Keyword(s):

Missing Data ◽

Phylogenetic Inference ◽

Future Research ◽

Typical Problem ◽

Long Branch Attraction ◽

Paleontological Data ◽

Root Node ◽

Branch Support ◽

The Many ◽

Abstract Recent studies have acknowledged the many benefits of including fossils in phylogenetic inference (e.g., reducing long-branch attraction). However, unstable taxa are known to be problematic, as they can reduce either the resolution of the strict consensus or branch support. In this study, we evaluate whether unstable taxa that reduce consensus resolution affect support values, and the extent of such impact, under equal and extended implied weighting. Two sets of analyses were conducted across 30 morphological datasets to evaluate complementary aspects. The first focused on the analytical conditions incrementing the terminal instability, while the second assessed whether pruning wildcards improves support. Changes in support were compared with the “number of nodes collapsed by unstable terminals,” their “distance to the root,” the “proportion of missing data in a dataset,” and the “proportion of sampled characters.” Our results indicate that the proportion of missing entries distributed among closely related taxa (for a given character) might be as detrimental for stability as those distributed among characters (for a given terminal). Unstable terminals that (1) collapse few nodes or (2) are closely located to the root node have more influence on the estimated support values. Weighting characters according to their extra steps while assuming that missing entries contribute to their homoplasy reduced the instability of wildcards. Our results suggest that increasing character sampling and using extended implied weighting decreases the impact of wildcard terminals. This study provides insights for designing future research dealing with unstable terminals, a typical problem of paleontological data.

Coronavirus Disease 2019: Psychological Stress and Cardiovascular Diseases

European Cardiology Review ◽

10.15420/ecr.2021.10 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

Author(s):

Maki Komiyama ◽

Koji Hasegawa

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Cardiovascular Diseases ◽

Eating Habits ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

Health Issues ◽

Alcohol And Drugs ◽

Global Priority ◽

Good Mental Health ◽

The Impact ◽

Minimising deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global priority. However, the harmful effects are not limited to those directly related to the infection. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a serious impact on the mental health of the general population. An increasing number of people are exhibiting signs of depression and an increase in suicides has also been noted around the world. Mental health issues may be linked to starting or increasing the use of addictive substances, such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs, along with increased overweight and obesity resulting from changes in eating habits. These issues can impact cardiovascular diseases because of worsened risk factor control. This review discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and cardiovascular risk factors. It will also summarise the measures that can be taken to maintain good mental health and their importance in mitigating cardiovascular disease.

Lockdown experiences and views on future research participation of autistic adults in the UK during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic

10.31234/osf.io/ncbem ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alba X Realpe Rojas ◽

Nicola Mills ◽

Lucy Beasant ◽

Sarah Douglas ◽

Lorcan Kenny ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mental Health ◽

Research Participation ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Issues ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Autistic People ◽

Autistic Adults ◽

The Uk ◽

The COVID-19 lockdown was a set of nationwide public health restrictions in force on the UK from March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Co-occurring anxiety and depression in autistic people placed them at heightened risk of potential adverse mental health due to the lockdown. Furthermore, the impact of current and future public health measures on autistic people’s willingness to take part in autism research was unknown. We carried out in-depth interviews with 31 autistic adults exploring their experiences of the COVID-19 lockdown and how the pandemic may affect future research participation. Transcripts were analysed thematically within a critical realism framework. Participants identified positive aspects of lockdown such as enjoying the lack of social pressures and using their well-developed skills for dealing with uncertainty. Autistic people also shared challenges of adjusting to lockdown, e.g., rapid change in daily routines. While hopeful about the freedom gained from easing restrictions, participants were concerned about the inconsistent communication and application of rules during the transition out of lockdown which may exacerbate already rising mental health issues among autistic people. The participants viewed research participation and engagement with increased relevance during the pandemic and welcomed efforts to conduct research using online methods of communication. The COVID-19 lockdown had a varied effect in the lives and routines of autistic people. However, healthcare providers and researchers need to be mindful of rising mental health issues during the pandemic, especially for people who were already vulnerable. The response to the pandemic may have offered opportunities for innovation in research processes enabling more autistic people to engage with research and making studies more inclusive.

Network decomposition in the many-sources regime

Advances in Applied Probability ◽

10.1239/aap/1093962240 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 893-918 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Do Young Eun ◽

Ness B. Shroff

Keyword(s):

Queueing System ◽

Queueing Network ◽

Speed Of Convergence ◽

Two Stage ◽

Network Decomposition ◽

Overflow Probability ◽

The Many ◽

Many Sources ◽

We derive results that show the impact of aggregation in a queueing network. Our model consists of a two-stage queueing system where the first (upstream) queue serves many flows, of which a certain subset arrive at the second (downstream) queue. The downstream queue experiences arbitrary interfering traffic. In this setup, we prove that, as the number of flows being aggregated in the upstream queue increases, the overflow probability of the downstream queue converges uniformly in the buffer level to the overflow probability of a single queueing system obtained by simply removing the upstream queue in the original two-stage queueing system. We also provide the speed of convergence and show that it is at least exponentially fast. We then extend our results to non-i.i.d. traffic arrivals.

What do we know about the impact of stress on foster carers and contributing factors?

Adoption & Fostering ◽

10.1177/0308575918799956 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 338-353 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Emma Adams ◽

Alexander R Hassett ◽

Virginia Lumsden

Keyword(s):

Future Research ◽

Inclusion Criteria ◽

Contributing Factors ◽

Effective Training ◽

Children’S Behaviour ◽

The Many ◽

System Variables ◽

Training And Support ◽

The Impact ◽

Service Framework

Research has highlighted the many challenges that foster carers face in caring for children who have experienced adversity and has charted a growing mismatch between the numbers of children needing placements and the availability of carers. This review synthesises and evaluates the current empirical evidence on the causes and consequences of stress experienced by foster carers and the factors that lessen or increase it. PsychINFO, ASSIA, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched for relevant studies, 15 of which met the specific inclusion criteria. The factors identified included both system variables, such as working in a wider service framework, and individual ones, such as children’s behaviour. One consequence of this stress was reduced foster carer retention. Scrutiny of the papers also revealed methodological issues related to sampling, research design and cultural variability. Topics for future research were identified, especially an analysis of the perspectives of people involved in the system around foster carers, such as social workers and the carers’ birth children. Clinical implications were also highlighted, most notably the promotion and provision of effective training and support and the development of integrated ways of working with services and foster carers’ families.