Keywords
Information dissemination
COVID-19
Health communication
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Abstract
Objective: To describe the profile of exposure to information about covid-19 and the perceptions of Brazilian elderly people about the effects of the covid-19 infodemic. Methods: Cross-sectional, exploratory study, carried out with 3,307 Brazilian elderly people. Data were collected by web-based survey, via social networks and e-mail, between July 2020 and March 2021. The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS software. The study was approved by the National Research Ethics Commission. Results: The majority of elderly people were between 60 and 64 years old (38.9%) and were female (68.4%). To access information about Covid-19, elderly people used television more (81.1%) and social networks (58.8%). Regarding perceptions about the effects of information about Covid-19, awareness was the most perceived repercussion through exposure to information conveyed through television (45.9%) and social networks (43.0%). Fear was among the most perceived repercussions when receiving news about the number of deaths from Covid-19 on television (37.4%) and stress (25.1%) when receiving fake news about Covid-19 on television. Conclusion: The infodemic has raised feelings of stress and fear, however, reliable and accessible information is important to increase public awareness.
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