A complicated relationship
Bringing behavioural science into the fight against health misinformation in a pandemic in displacement settings.
Abstract
This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), explored whether manipulating the source of public health information during the COVID-19 pandemic would shift the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of refugees and internally displaced persons. While the research questions could not be answered, the study generated useful insights for researchers interested in similar questions.
The literature review and limited empirical work outlined in this report highlight a number of key recommendations particularly for humanitarian actors seeking to implement public health information campaigns in displacement settings. They also show where knowledge gaps are, as studies from different academic disciplines are often confined to a specific context and might not have used research methods that would allow identifying which behavioural mechanisms are at play in how people receive and act on information within displacement settings, where limitation and gaps exist on account of the confinement to a singular context.
This research was supported by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme
Citation
Schomerus M, Gorur K, Gupta P, Hernandez D, Srinivas S, Escande A, Milrine M, Tang C, Tembey L. ‘A complicated relationship: Bringing behavioural science into the fight against health misinformation in a pandemic in displacement settings’. Nairobi: Busara, 2023