Migrant Workers' Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Yale-NUS College1,011 enrolled

Overview

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. In this study, we seek to document the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief.

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. Vulnerable populations such as migrant workers tend to lack access to accurate health information, which can put them at higher risk for receiving and spreading misinformation. In this study, we seek to document (i) the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and (ii) identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief. These predictors include trust in institutions, risk perceptions, online habits and socio-demographic variables. Data was taken from the COVID-19 Migrant Health Study, a cross-sectional study of male migrants employed in manual labor jobs within Singapore.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

1,011

Conditions

Coronavirus Trust Misinformation

Eligibility

Sex: MALEMin age: 21 YearsMax age: 60 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * At least 21 years old * Holds a government work permit identifying their employment status Exclusion Criteria: * NIL

Locations (1)

Yale NUS

Singapore, Singapore

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Confidence in government

Participants were asked how confident they were that the government could control the nationwide spread of COVID-19

Time frame: baseline

Fear for health

Participants were asked how fearful they were about their health during the COVID-19 situation

Time frame: baseline

Fear for job

Participants were asked how fearful they were about their job during the COVID-19 situation

Time frame: baseline

Degree of exposure to rumours

We investigated participants' familiarity with five rumors that had been widely spread during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) drinking water frequently will help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (2) eating garlic can help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (3) the outbreak arose from people eating bat soup (COVID-19 origins); (4) the virus was created in a US lab to affect China's economy (COVID-19 origins); and (5) the virus was created in a Chinese lab as a bioweapon (COVID-19 origins).

Time frame: baseline

Online habits

We investigated the number of hours per day that participants' spent checking COVID-19 news and discussing COVID-19 on social media.

Time frame: baseline

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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