Impact of COVID-19 infodemics on knowledge, attitude and Social behavior in India: a mixed method survey.

In India, there is a growing base of internet and social media users, and poor regulation of these platforms, disproportionately bearing a high spread of misinformation.

Aim: To assess the impact of Covid-19 misinformation and rumor on knowledge, attitudes and social behavior in India

Objectives:

• To assess the level of knowledge and attitude towards Covid-19 and its prevention among the Indian population .
• To determine the impact of infodemics on Covid-19 knowledge, attitude and practices.
• The impact of rumors related to Covid-19 on the individual and social behaviour.

Significance : Assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 would be helpful to provide better insight to address poor knowledge about the disease and the development of preventive strategies and health promotion programs. Our survey will suggest an intervention strategy that will reflect regional and cultural factors that will be best suited to the Indian population.

Method: Data collection will be done in sequential mixed method survey. A cross-sectional quantitative survey in four different regional languages and English, followed by one-on-one qualitative interviews.

Data Analysis: Association between the knowledge attitude and preventive practices (KAP) will be done using Pearson's Chi Square, Chi Square test of independence or Fisher’s exact test. Binomial logistic regression model will also be fitted to identify the independent predictors of knowledge, attitude and practices of Covid-19 prevention by taking the level of KAP as an outcome. For the qualitative arm, content analysis will be done to categorize the transcripts into themes and subthemes.