Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. Mar 9, 2024; 13(1): 89139
Published online Mar 9, 2024. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v13.i1.89139
Effect of nutrition-related infodemics and social media on maternal experience: A nationwide survey in a low/middle income country
Marwa M Zein, Noha Arafa, Mortada H F El-Shabrawi, Nehal Mohammed El-Koofy
Marwa M Zein, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 515211, Egypt
Noha Arafa, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Children's Hospital, Kasralainy Medical School, Cairo University, Cairo 515211, Egypt
Mortada H F El-Shabrawi, Department of Pediatrics, Cairo University, Cairo 12411, Egypt
Nehal Mohammed El-Koofy, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital, Cairo University, Cairo 12411, Egypt
Author contributions: El-Koofy N designed the study; Zein MM and Arafa N participated in the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and drafted the initial manuscript; El-Shabrawi MHF and El-Koofy N revised the article critically for important intellectual content.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the scientific committee of the Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, and was approved by the International Ethical committee at Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University No. 318-2023.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Noha Arafa, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Children's Hospital, Kasralainy Medical School, Cairo University, 5th El-Rasheedy Street, Cairo 515211, Egypt. noha.hussein@kasralainy.edu.eg
Received: October 21, 2023
Peer-review started: October 21, 2023
First decision: December 15, 2023
Revised: December 29, 2023
Accepted: February 18, 2024
Article in press: February 18, 2024
Published online: March 9, 2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Undernutrition is a crucial cause of morbidity and mortality among children in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs). A better understanding of maternal general healthy nutrition knowledge, as well as misbeliefs, is highly essential, especially in such settings. In the current era of infodemics, it is very strenuous for mothers to select not only the right source for maternal nutrition information but the correct information as well.

AIM

To assess maternal healthy nutritional knowledge and nutrition-related misbeliefs and misinformation in an LMIC, and to determine the sources of such information and their assessment methods.

METHODS

This cross-sectional analytical observational study enrolled 5148 randomly selected Egyptian mothers who had one or more children less than 15 years old. The data were collected through online questionnaire forms: One was for the general nutrition knowledge assessment, and the other was for the nutritional myth score. Sources of information and ways of evaluating internet sources using the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose test were additionally analyzed.

RESULTS

The mean general nutrition knowledge score was 29 ± 9, with a percent score of 70.8% ± 12.1% (total score: 41). The median myth score was 9 (interquartile range: 6, 12; total score: 18). The primary sources of nutrition knowledge for the enrolled mothers were social media platforms (55%). Half of the mothers managed information for currency and authority, except for considering the author's contact information. More than 60% regularly checked information for accuracy and purpose. The mothers with significant nutrition knowledge checked periodically for the author's contact information (P = 0.012). The nutrition myth score was significantly lower among mothers who periodically checked the evidence of the information (P = 0.016). Mothers dependent on their healthcare providers as the primary source of their general nutritional knowledge were less likely to hold myths by 13% (P = 0.044). However, using social media increased the likelihood of having myths among mothers by approximately 1.2 (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Social media platforms were found to be the primary source of maternal nutrition information in the current era of infodemics. However, healthcare providers were the only source for decreasing the incidence of maternal myths among the surveyed mothers.

Keywords: Nutrition, Infodemics, Maternal knowledge, Myth, Low/middle income country

Core Tip: Undernutrition is one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in children in low- or middle-income countries. The evaluation of maternal nutrition knowledge scores is crucial to improving practice. The infodemic era has significantly impacted the changing sources of nutrition information and myths. Consequently, this study aimed to assess healthy nutritional knowledge and nutrition-related misinformation and misbeliefs among a significant sample of Egyptian mothers. In addition, other objectives included determining the sources of nutritional information and how those mothers manage the sources of nutritional-related knowledge.