Toward a personhood-based theory of right action: Investigating the Covid-19 pandemic and religious conspiracy theories in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amara Esther Chimakonam
Keyword(s):  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Normative Conception

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in religious conspiracy theories (henceforth RCTs) in Africa, ranging from outright denial, partial acceptance to spreading misinformation about the Coronavirus. This essay will argue that RCTs pose serious challenges to Covid-19 prevention by encouraging non-compliance to Covid-19 preventive measures and refusal to take Covid-19 vaccination. It will then formulate a personhood-based theory of right action. This new theory will be teased out of Ifeanyi Menkiti's account of the normative conception of personhood and deployed here as a veritable tool for overcoming the challenges posed by RCTs in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa.

scholarly journals Beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories predict lower level of compliance with the preventive measures both directly and indirectly by lowering trust in government medical officials

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Pavela Banai ◽  
Benjamin Banai ◽  
Igor Mikloušić
Keyword(s):  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Multiple Mediation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global health crisis, making compliance with governmental policies and public health advice crucial in decreasing transmission rates. At the same time, we are faced with the rapid spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the predictive power of COVID-19 conspiracy theories in explaining the level of compliance with official COVID-19 guidelines, by including mediating roles of pseudoscientific information beliefs and trust in government officials. A total of 1882 participants provided sociodemographic information and completed all measures in the study. Multiple mediation analysis revealed a direct negative effect of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs on the compliance with the preventive measures. In addition, conspiracy beliefs were indirectly associated with compliance via trust in government officials. The present study builds upon emerging research showing that conspiracy beliefs have potentially significant social consequences. Practical implications of these findings are further discussed.

scholarly journals Misinformation, Fears and Adherence to Preventive Measures during the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 12266
Author(s):  
Bartosz M. Nowak ◽  
Cezary Miedziarek ◽  
Szymon Pełczyński ◽  
Piotr Rzymski
Keyword(s):  
Early Phase ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Public Response

The response to the pandemic requires access to accurate information and public understanding and adherence to preventive measures. This online cross-sectional study of adult Poles (n = 1337) assessed the frequency of COVID-19 preventive behaviors, fears related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and beliefs in COVID-19-related conspiracy theories during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic when the nationwide lockdown was imposed (April 2020). As shown, 22% of surveyed admitted not to wash their hands frequently, while 12% did not use disinfectants. These two behaviors were also less frequent in individuals with medical education. The highest levels of pandemic-related fears were associated with health loss in relatives, pandemic-induced economic crisis, and government using a pandemic to control citizens by the state. A significant share of surveyed individuals believed that the pandemic was intentional action to weaken non-Chinese economies (32%) or was deliberately induced for profits from selling vaccines (27%). Men, individuals with no children, and subjects with lower education were significantly less likely to adhere to sanitary measures (handwashing, disinfection, avoiding face touching, changes in greeting etiquette, face-covering when coughing or sneezing), and were less concerned over self and relatives’ health. At the same time, men were less prone than women to the conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that adherence to sanitary measures during the pandemic can be a challenge also in developed countries, while misinformation campaigns (also concerning vaccines) have already affected the general public during the early phase of the epidemiological outbreak. The study provides observations that may be useful in the management of the public response to future epidemics.

scholarly journals Social Media as Vehicle for Conspiracy Beliefs on COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Andreas Goreis ◽  
Oswald D. Kothgassner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Preventive Health ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Highlights: Conspiracy beliefs are spread via social media platforms and may have a negative impact on preventive health measures Preventive measures against fear and misinformation need to consider the differential effects of different forms of conspiracy theories on behavior Fostering awareness in society about COVID-19 misinformation in social media is crucial.

scholarly journals Psychological Correlates of COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs and Preventive Measures: Evidence from Turkey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinan Alper ◽  
Fatih Bayrak ◽  
Onurcan Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Cognitive Reflection ◽  
Psychological Correlates ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs

COVID-19 pandemic has led to popular conspiracy theories regarding its origins and widespread concern over the level of compliance with preventive measures. In the current preregistered research, we recruited 1088 Turkish participants and investigated (a) individual differences associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs; (b) whether such conspiracy beliefs are related to the level of preventive measures; and (c) other individual differences that might be related to the preventive measures. Higher faith in intuition, uncertainty avoidance, impulsivity, generic conspiracy beliefs, religiosity, and right-wing ideology, and a lower level of cognitive reflection were associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. There was no association between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures while perceived risk was positively and impulsivity negatively correlated with preventive measures. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.

scholarly journals Communicating COVID-19 Pandemic on Facebook: Illustrations from Users’ Screenshots from Nigeria and Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Habib Mohammad Ali ◽  
Herbert Batta ◽  
Henry C Ogaraku
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Informational Support ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Facts

The outbreak of COVID-19 has dented the global public health profile. On the one side, the ubiquity of social media has led to damaging misinformation, fake news, stigmatization, and conspiracy theories. Fortunately, on the other side, the advantageous characteristics of social media and the informational support mechanisms with which they produce social safety valves; are a solid basis to curbing the pandemic. This paper examines the use of social media as a valuable platform to publicly communicate the COVID-19, especially its scientific discourses. This paper focuses on Facebook as a platform amenable to the strategic digital communication of COVID-19. It takes illustrations from screenshots of Facebook users in Nigeria and Bangladesh. Some of the identified strategies include supporting for preventive measures, focusing on solutions, countering fake information, standing against racism and stigmatization, relying on scientific facts, confronting conspiracy theories, dealing with pseudoscience and denials, explaining statistics meaningfully, avoiding the temptation to trivialize and sensationalize, and using local languages.

Abstract #500: Osteoporosis Preventive Measures in Patients Receiving Glucocorticoids - are they Being Practiced?

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Nitika Malhotra ◽  
Reem Alnazawi ◽  
Ved Gossain ◽  
Matthew Hebdon
Keyword(s):  
Preventive Measures

Fatality of Suicide Attempts in Amsterdam 1996–2005

Crisis ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 180-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evertjan Jansen ◽  
Marcel C.A. Buster ◽  
Annemarie L. Zuur ◽  
Cees Das
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Time Trends ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Absolute Number ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Wish To Die ◽  
Municipal Health

Background: According to recent figures, Amsterdam is the municipality with the highest absolute number of suicides and the second highest suicide rate in the Netherlands. Aims: The aim of the study was to identify time trends and demographic differences in the occurrence of nonfatal suicide attempts versus suicides. Methods: We used registrations of forensic physicians and ambulance services of the Municipal Health Service of Amsterdam to study 1,004 suicides and 6,166 nonfatal attempts occurring in Amsterdam over the period 1996–2005. Results: The number of nonfatal attempts declined from 1996 to 2005, but the number of completed suicides remained relatively stable. Although case fatality was strongly associated with method used, we also found higher case fatalities for men and older people independent of method. Conclusions: The case fatality results suggest differences in motive among different demographic groups: possibly the wish to die is stronger among men and elderly. This finding had implications for the success to be expected from different preventive measures.

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