THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION SOURCES ON THE FEAR OF COVID-19

Öz

This study aims to examine what sources of coronavirus information are and their impact on the fear of COVID-19. This research reached 1851 people through Google Forms. The sociodemographic questionnaire and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale were used and the data were analyzed by SPSS. The study shows that news sources on COVID-19 consist mostly of TV, social media, and online sources. The differences were found in terms of news sources according to gender. As age increases, the use of news sources decreases; as the educational level increases, the use of news sources increases. There is a significant difference in the fear of COVID-19 among those who use television, social media, online resources, friends, and family members as news sources. The most remarkable finding of the research is that the fear of COVID-19 increases as the number of news sources reached increases. This result reveals the effects of more information obtained from more news sources on the fear of COVID-19, pointing to a different dimension of the issue that should be addressed at the individual and societal levels.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• News
• The fear of COVID-19
• Sources of Information
• The News of COVID-19

Öz

Bu çalışma, koronavirüs ile ilgili bilgi kaynaklarının neler olduğunu ve bunların COVID-19 korkusu üzerindeki etkisini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Araştırmada Google Formlar aracılığıyla 1851 kişiye ulaşılmış; Sosyodemografik soru formu ve COVID-19 Korkusu Ölçeği kullanılmış ve veriler SPSS ile analiz edilmiştir. Çalışma COVID-19 ile ilgili haber kaynaklarının çoğunlukla TV, sosyal medya ve çevrimiçi kaynaklardan oluştuğunu göstermektedir. Cinsiyetlere göre haber kaynaklarının kullanımı açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklılık bulunmuştur. Yaş arttıkça haber kaynaklarının kullanımı azalmakta; eğitim seviyesi yükseldikçe haber kaynaklarının kullanımı artmaktadır. Haber kaynağı olarak TV, sosyal medya, çevrimiçi kaynaklar, arkadaş ve aile üyelerini kullananlar arasında COVID-19 korkusunda anlamlı bir farklılık bulunmuştur. Araştırmanın en çarpıcı bulgusu, ulaşılan haber kaynaklarının sayısı arttıkça COVID-19 korkusunun artmasıdır. Bu sonuç, daha fazla haber kaynağından edinilen daha fazla bilginin COVID-19 korkusu üzerindeki etkilerini ortaya koymakta, konunun bireysel ve toplumsal düzeyde ele alınması gereken farklı bir boyutuna işaret etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• Haber
• COVID-19 Korkusu
• Bilgi Kaynakları
• COVID-19 Haberleri

Kaynakça

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