Infodemic and Stress among Nursing Students in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The increase in the spread of fake news about COVID-19, personal protection measures and social distancing suggested by governments to stop the spread of the disease jeopardize the mental health of society, with feelings of uneasiness, anxiety, worry and stress.

Objective: To identify the relationship between the consumption of information on COVID-19 and the level of stress in Nursing students.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted at the Nursing school of the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Peru, in 2022. The population consisted of 74 students. The global stress perception scale for university students, the COVID-19 information consumption questionnaire and the uses and gratifications scale were applied. Pearson's chi-squared test and the contingency coefficient were used to evaluate the relationship between variables.

Results: The most frequently used means of information on COVID-19 was Google. 95.60 % used social networks for more than two hours every day to look up information on COVID-19. 62.30 % of the population presented high levels of distress. A significant relationship (p ≤ 0.05) was found between high level of distress and the medium level of information about COVID-19.

Conclusions: There is a relationship between access to information about COVID-19 through Google and high levels of distress. Google is the most frequently used source of information on COVID-19, followed by official websites from the WHO and the Ministry of Health.