Testing the Efficacy of Attitudinal Inoculation Videos to Enhance COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance: Quasi-Experimental Intervention Trial

Background: Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of COVID-19-related misinformation has spread and been amplified online. The spread of misinformation can influence COVID-19 beliefs and protective actions, including vaccine hesitancy. Belief in vaccine misinformation is associated wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JMIR public health and surveillance 2022-06, Vol.8 (6), p.e34615-e34615
Main Authors: Piltch-Loeb, Rachael, Su, Max, Hughes, Brian, Testa, Marcia, Goldberg, Beth, Braddock, Kurt, Miller-Idriss, Cynthia, Maturo, Vanessa, Savoia, Elena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audiences
Communication
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Extremism
False information
Health surveillance
Immunization
Intervention
Narratives
Original Paper
Pandemics
Propaganda
Public health
Quasi-experimental methods
Rhetoric
Social networks
Vaccines
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Summary:Background: Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of COVID-19-related misinformation has spread and been amplified online. The spread of misinformation can influence COVID-19 beliefs and protective actions, including vaccine hesitancy. Belief in vaccine misinformation is associated with lower vaccination rates and higher vaccine resistance. Attitudinal inoculation is a preventative approach to combating misinformation and disinformation, which leverages the power of narrative, rhetoric, values, and emotion. Objective: This study seeks to test inoculation messages in the form of short video messages to promote resistance against persuasion by COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Methods: We designed a series of 30-second inoculation videos and conducted a quasi-experimental study to test the use of attitudinal inoculation in a population of individuals who were unvaccinated (N=1991). The 3 intervention videos were distinguished by their script design, with intervention video 1 focusing on narrative/rhetorical (“Narrative”) presentation of information, intervention video 2 focusing on delivering a fact-based information (“Fact”), and intervention video 3 using a hybrid design (“Hybrid”). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models were used to compare the main effect of the intervention on the 3 outcome variables: ability to recognize misinformation tactics (“Recognize”), willingness to share misinformation (“Share”), and willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine (“Willingness”). Results: There were significant effects across all 3 outcome variables comparing inoculation intervention groups to controls. For the Recognize outcome, the ability to recognize rhetorical strategies, there was a significant intervention group effect (P
ISSN:2369-2960
2369-2960
DOI:10.2196/34615