An Analysis of Infodemics Latent Class on Coronavirus Infections-19(COVID-19) in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Aim: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that attempts to find ways to manage infodemics for infectious disease by identifying infodemics latent class of Korean adults during the Corona Virus Infectious Disease-19 pandemic.

Method: The study subjects were 210 adults 19 years of age or older working in company with 50 or more employees, centered in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Gyeongsang-do, where the incidence of Corona Virus Infectious Disease-19 was relatively high.

Result: The latent class of subjects" infodemics was analyzed using LPA(Latent Profile Analysis). The model fit was BIC=3462.34, saBIC=3389.46, LMR<.001, BLRT < .001. Latent class 1 is an “infodemics safety group” with a very low fear of COVID-19 and a high self-efficacy against COVID-19 prevention. In this group, the sharing of false information is low and the sharing of the correct information is high. Latent class 2 is an “infodemics boundary group” that has a high sense of self-efficacy against COVID-19 prevention, but has low degree both correct information and misinformation sharing. Latent class 3 is an “infodemic risk group” that has high fear of COVID-19 and shares both false and correct information, but has a low degree of prevention against COVID-19.

Conclusion: In the early stages of infectious diseases, accurate information sharing is important factor on prevention behavior of infectious diseases. Because information sharing and propagation can vary from individual to individual, it is necessary to explore ways to control information of social dimension during infectious disease pandemic.