Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Public health efforts to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been plagued by vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. Social media has contributed to spreading misinformation by creating online environments where people find information or opinions that reinforce their own. Combating misinformation online will be essential to prevent and manage the spread of COVID-19. It is of particular urgency to understand and address misinformation and vaccine hesitancy among essential workers, such as healthcare workers, because of their frequent interactions with and influence upon the general population. Using data from an online community pilot randomized controlled trial designed to increase requests for COVID-19 vaccine information among frontline essential workers, we explored the topics discussed on the online community related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination to better understand current misinformation and vaccine hesitancy. METHODS: For the trial, 120 participants and 12 peer leaders were recruited through online advertisements to join a private, hidden Facebook group. The study consisted of an intervention and control arm, each with two groups of 30 randomized participants each. Peer leaders were only randomized into one of the intervention-arm groups. Peer leaders were tasked with engaging the participants throughout the study. Posts and comments of only participants were coded manually by the research team. Chi-squared tests assessed differences in the frequency and content of posts between intervention and control arms. RESULTS: We found significant differences in the numbers of posts and comments focused on topics of general community, misinformation, and social support between intervention and control arms (6.88% vs 19.05% focused on misinformation, respectively, (P <0.001); 11.88% vs 1.90% focused on social support, respectively, (P <0.001); and 46.88% vs 62.86% focused on general community (P <0.001)). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that peer-led online community groups may help to reduce the spread of misinformation and aid public health efforts in our fight against COVID-19.