Interventions for combating COVID-19 misinformation: A systematic realist review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Information Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Misinformation, particularly concerning public health and COVID-19, has led to significant negative outcomes.
• There is an urgent need for effective interventions to combat the spread of health misinformation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a realist systematic review of proposed interventions against COVID-19 misinformation.
• To assess the characteristics, effectiveness, durability, and contextual factors of these interventions.

Main Methods:

• Searched multiple databases for studies on interventions published from 2020 onwards.
• Included 35 studies representing eight intervention types, assessing their quality and coding themes.
• Focused on realist review methodology to understand intervention functioning in context.

Main Results:

• Game-type interventions demonstrated advantages in scalability and impact compared to other types.
• Interventions showed varied effects on subgroups and potential for backfire effects.
• High heterogeneity in outcome measures and methods complicated direct comparisons between studies.

Conclusions:

• No single intervention is sufficient; packages of interventions tailored to specific contexts and target groups are recommended.
• Future research should standardize outcome measures and methods and connect theoretical and intervention literatures.
• Further investigation into the role of political polarization in misinformation is needed.