Comparative Analysis of Misinformation Spread Models During Health and Environmental Crises in Jalingo Metropolis, Taraba State, Nigeria

This descriptive survey examined residents’ awareness, experiences, and perceptions of misinformation spread models during health and environmental crises in Jalingo Metropolis, Taraba State. The study was motivated by the demonstrable harms wrought by health-crisis misinformation including suppressed vaccine uptake and panic-induced remedies and by the chronic environmental misinformation that obscures industrial pollution impacts across Nigerian communities. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 384 respondents across four administrative wards of Jalingo Metropolis. Data were collected using a validated structured questionnaire, the Misinformation Spread Perception Questionnaire (MSPQ), with a reliability coefficient of 0.84. Mean and standard deviation were employed to answer the four research questions. Results revealed that respondents had a high awareness of health-crisis misinformation but moderate awareness of environmental-crisis misinformation. WhatsApp and religious networks were identified as the dominant propagation channels for health-related falsehoods, while formal institutional sources government press releases and regulatory agency filings were identified as principal vectors of environmental misinformation. No significant difference in misinformation awareness was found by gender, but significant differences were observed by educational attainment and residential ward. The findings have direct implications for science education curriculum development, community health communication, and environmental governance in Taraba State and comparable Nigerian contexts.

Misinformation, Health Crises, Environmental Crises, WhatsApp, Science Education

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