Koronavirüs Hastalığı (COVID-19): Pandemi Sırasında Kitle İletişim Araçlarının Etkisi ve Rolü

COVID-19 pandemisi, günlük yaşantımızda etkisi derin olan küresel bir sağlık krizi yarattı. Toplumun pandemi riskini algılaması ve önleyici tedbirlerin alınmasında katılımının artmasına katkıda bulunan kitle iletişim araçları salgın döneminde önemini göstermiştir. Bu çalışmada, COVID-19 pandemisinde önleyici ve koruyucu tedbirlerin sürdürülebilmesi, yanlış bilgi kaynaklarına ulaşımın azaltılması ve etkili sağlık iletişimi için gerekli olan kitle iletişim araçlarının bireylerin davranışları üzerindeki rolünün belirlenmesi amaçlandı. Elde edilen sonuçlar şimdiki ve gelecekteki salgın hastalıklarda insan davranışlarının doğru yönlendirilmesine katkı sağlayarak, politika yapıcılara yol gösterecektir. Çalışmada 4-9 Nisan 2021 tarihleri arasında İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim Üniversitesi 29/07/2020-2020/07 tarih ve sayılı etik kurul kararı doğrultusunda kartopu örnekleme yöntemi kullanılarak, çevrimiçi Google formlar üzerinden hazırlanan anket ile veriler toplandı. Türkiye’deki 81 ilden, 748 kişi araştırmanın örneklemini oluşturdu. Çevrimiçi anket, araştırmacılar tarafından oluşturulan tanıtıcı bilgilere yönelik sorular, son 14 gün içindeki COVID-19 pandemi sürecinde bireylerin kitle iletişim araçlarını kullanma sıklıklarını, bu araçlara karşı tutumları ve bunun sonucunda ortaya çıkan davranış değişikliklerini değerlendiren ve bu amaçla geliştirilen “COVID-19 Pandemisinde Kitle İletişim Araçlarına Yönelik Algı Ölçeği” ve “COVID-19 Pandemi Sürecinde Kaçınma Davranış Ölçeği” kullanıldı. Verilerin değerlendirilmesinde SPSS 25.0 istatistik programı kullanılarak analizler yapıldı. Verilerin analizine göre, COVID-19 Pandemisinde Kitle İletişim Araçlarına Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği doğruluk, anlaşılırlık, önemlilik ve ilgi uyandırma olmak üzere toplam 4 boyuttan oluşmaktadır. Ölçeğin Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) değerinin 0.921 ve varyansının %58.065 olduğu belirlendi. COVID-19 Pandemi Sürecinde Kaçınma Davranışı Ölçeği’nin, tedbirli davanış ve kişisel kaçınma olmak üzere iki boyuttan oluştuğu, toplam varyans %63.251 ve KMO değerinin 0.804 olduğu saptandı. Katılımcıların, COVID-19 Pandemisinde Kitle İletişim Araçlarına Yönelik Tutum Ölçeğinin toplam puan ortalaması 3.715±0.64 ve COVID-19 Pandemi Sürecinde Kaçınma Davranışı Ölçeği toplam puan ortalaması 3.919±0.71 olarak yüksek düzeyde bulundu. Değişkenler arasında Stepwise yöntemiyle yapılan regresyon analizi sonucunda, katılımcıların kitle iletişim araçlarına yönelik doğruluk, önemlilik, ilgi uyandırma algılarının tedbirli davranış üzerinde anlamlı ve pozitif yönde etkisi saptandı. Anlaşılırlık, önemlilik, ilgi uyandırma algılarının, kişisel kaçınma davranışı üzerinde anlamlı ve pozitif etkisi saptandı. Elde edilen sonuçlar doğrultusunda, topluma pandemi hakkında kitle iletişim araçları üzerinden alanında uzman kişiler tarafından sağlıkla ilgili bilgilerin verilmesinin tedbirli davranış ve kişisel kaçınma davranışlarını olumlu yönde değiştirerek, olumsuz biyolojik ve oluşabilecek ruh sağlığı ile ilgili sıkıntıları en aza indirilmesinde etkili olacağı öngörülmektedir. Hastalıklardan korunma, tedbir alma ve salgınla mücadele esnasında doğru bilgiye ulaşmak çok önemlidir. Yanlış bilgi kaynakları ciddi problemlere neden olabilir. Salgınla mücadelede, konuyla ilgili bilgi sahibi, bu alanda uzman kişilerin güvenilir açıklamalarda bulunması en doğrusudur. Yanlış bilgi kaynaklarının önüne geçilmelidir.

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): The Impact and Role of Mass Media During the Pandemic

The 2020 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created a global health crisis that profoundly impacts how we perceive our world and daily lives. The mass media plays a significant role in shaping the public’s perception of the risks, influencing the public’s level of participation in preventive measures. False information should never be shared, but sharing disinformation during a pandemic is especially egregious as it can impede efforts to prevent the disease from spreading. Non-experts in the media should not be making and publicizing false statements. This study designed a COVID-19-specific tool to examine the role of the mass media in disseminating accurate health communication and stopping the flow of misinformation, especially as this relates to the sustainable adoption of preventive measures to curtail the pandemic in Turkey. The outcomes will guide policymakers toward a more effective correct management of human behavior in current and future epidemics. In the study, data were collected with a questionnaire prepared through online Google forms, using the snowball sampling method, in line with the ethics committee decision of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University dated 29/07/2020-2020/07 between 4-9 April 2021. The survey combined the “Perception of Health News Scale,” which was developed by Çınar (2018) and modified to be specific to the COVID-19 pandemic to create the “Perception of COVID-19 News Scale,” and a bespoke scale for the current study to measure personal avoidance behaviors in the pandemic: the “COVID-19 Avoidance Behavior Scale.” The collected data were analyzed using IBM’s SPSS 25.0 software. The “Perception of COVID-19 News Scale” focused on four dimensions of mass media health coverage during the pandemic: accuracy, comprehensibility, significance, and interestingness. The scale was valid and reliable (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin 0.921; variance 58.065%; total score average 3.715 ± 0.64). The “COVID-19 Avoidance Behavior Scale” focused on personal avoidance behavior and preventive behavior. The scale was also valid and reliable (KMO .0804; variance 63.251%; total score average 3.919 ± 0.71). The mass media health coverage of the pandemic could explain 59.9% of the participants’ change in avoidance behavior. A regression analysis using the stepwise method among the variables showed that the mass media’s COVID-19 coverage that the participants considered truthful and significant had the most considerable effect on their precautionary behavior. In addition, news they perceived as understandable, compelling, and engaging had a substantial and positive impact on their avoidance behavior. The results suggest that pandemic-specific health training provided to the public through mass media could contribute to more effective early case detection and positively change precautionary and personal avoidance behaviors leading to more positive biological and psychological consequences.

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