A lecture and a set of in-class games for a masters of public class session on public health aspects of information environment, health misinformation and infodemic.

1. Heidelberg University
7-8 February 2024
Public Health
and
Information
Ecosystems
Tina D Purnat
Elisabeth Wilhelm
Introduction to
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8. Misinformatio
n

9. Four truths in addressing health
misinformation and other information
environment challenges

10. Trust is reinforced through experience,
not (just) communication

11. Public health
institutions don’t have
direct influence over the
information
environment, so they
need to adapt

12. Decisions about health
are complex at individual
level and are mediated by
practical, social, and
behavioral factors.
Therefore, debunking
misinformation or
awareness campaigns are
not enough to build
resilience to health
misinformation.

13. Copying and pasting what we know about misinformation from
elections, climate change and foreign influence campaigns has
limited applicability to public health -- we need our own models
that connect supply, access and demand for health services.

14. Vaccinations Alternative
Medicine
Nutrition
and Diet
Mental
Health
Sexual and
Reproductive
Health
Chronic
Diseases
HIV/AIDS
Cancer
Exercise and
Fitness
Allergies and
Intolerances
Chronic Pain Substance
Abuse
Sleep Health Aging and
Anti-Aging
Genetic
Testing and
Personalized
Medicine
Environmental
Health
Health topic areas that are represented in health misinformation research

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17. Left unaddressed, these can contribute to erosion of trust health guidance, health interventions, health workers and health
systems, reduce risk perception, discourage healthy behaviors and contribute to vaccine hesitancy. This can be prevented.

18. Tells a story Uses humor or satire
Pushes emotional buttons and
appeals to audience values
Contains images or video
specifically formatted for a
particular audience and
channel
Provides a simple explanation
for a complex problem
Uses language that is
appealing to the audience
(e.g. slang, memes)

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25. ~W. Edwards Deming

26. 4 5
1 2 3

28. ‹#›
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SUBCATEGORY
INTERVENTION CATEGORY
Purnat T, John O, Pundir P, Ishizumi A, Murthy S, Rajwar E. et al. https://bit.ly/evidencegapmapinfodemic. Open Science Framework. 2022.

30. Promising interventions and strategies

32. Promising interventions and strategies

33. Promising interventions and strategies

34. Promising interventions and strategies

35. Promising interventions and strategies

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37. Thankyouvery
much!
tinapurnat.com
Resources for
infodemic managers

38. Trying out
some
individual-level
interventions

41. “We find that playing a 15 min game confers
psychological resistance against real-world
misinformation thatmakes use of manipulation
techniques against which people were inoculated”
“We’ve seen a positive increase in
attitudes to vaccinations and a
positive increase in people’s
discernment between facts and
fallacies.
“The characters are recognisable to
the players and the scripts are
changed across countries and
they’re specific to the local
communities.”

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Play in your browser:
https://www.getbadnews.com/

43. Play the vaccine edition:
https://crankyunclevaccine.org/
(check out the original:
https://crankyuncle.com/game/)
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45. For moresocial
inoculationgames
tinapurnat.com
Resources for
infodemic managers