Interventions to Mitigate COVID-19 Misinformation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Information Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• COVID-19 pandemic's impact is influenced by public information exposure.
• Proliferation of COVID-19 misinformation complicates mitigation efforts.
• Optimal strategies for ameliorating misinformation impact remain uncertain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the relative impact of interventions designed to mitigate COVID-19 misinformation through meta-analysis.
• To identify factors influencing the effectiveness of misinformation mitigation strategies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of multiple databases and gray literature (January 2020 - September 2021).
• Meta-analysis of 16 studies (N=33,378) examining COVID-19 misinformation belief as the primary outcome.
• Assessment of study quality and examination of publication bias.

Main Results:

• The overall effect size of interventions was positive but not statistically significant (d = 2.018, p = .065).
• Evidence of publication bias was detected.
• Interventions were more effective when participants were engaged and when text-only mitigation was employed.

Conclusions:

• Current interventions show a non-significant trend towards reducing misinformation belief.
• Participant engagement and text-only formats appear to enhance intervention effectiveness.
• Limited inclusion of non-U.S. and marginalized populations in studies is a concern, necessitating future research to address global health disparities.