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Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria

Received: 11 June 2023     Accepted: 28 June 2023     Published: 11 July 2023
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Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a test for the Nigerian government on how preventive measures and treatment procedures would be communicated, trusted, and accepted. This study therefore investigated the trust and mistrust that residents of Lagos and Kogi states had in the communication tools employed on COVID-19 prevention by the government from March-October, 2020. The study involved a Survey of 317 respondents selected through community contacts during the lockdown and four Focus Group Discussion (FGD sessions involving 24 participants selected purposively based on presence of both gender, age diversity, and literacy. A Spearman Correlation statistic indicated that trust in Federal government and government parastatals will influence trust in communication on the COVID-19 pandemic (r-value = 0.547, p-value = 0.000) but that trust in state government and parastatals will lead to distrust in federal government and parastatals where there is conflicting communication from both tiers of government (Cramer V value = 0.394, p-value = 0.012). The perception of Nigerian political system as corrupt has a negative influence on the public trust of communication from the government. Political actors therefore need to do something positive to reverse the negative perception ahead of another possible pandemic.

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 11, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
Page(s) 113-122
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

COVID-19, Nigeria, Trust, Mistrust, Communication

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye, Ifedolapo Ademosu. (2023). Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria. Science Journal of Public Health, 11(4), 113-122. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11

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    ACS Style

    Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye; Ifedolapo Ademosu. Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria. Sci. J. Public Health 2023, 11(4), 113-122. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11

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    AMA Style

    Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye, Ifedolapo Ademosu. Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria. Sci J Public Health. 2023;11(4):113-122. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11,
      author = {Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye and Ifedolapo Ademosu},
      title = {Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {11},
      number = {4},
      pages = {113-122},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20231104.11},
      abstract = {The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a test for the Nigerian government on how preventive measures and treatment procedures would be communicated, trusted, and accepted. This study therefore investigated the trust and mistrust that residents of Lagos and Kogi states had in the communication tools employed on COVID-19 prevention by the government from March-October, 2020. The study involved a Survey of 317 respondents selected through community contacts during the lockdown and four Focus Group Discussion (FGD sessions involving 24 participants selected purposively based on presence of both gender, age diversity, and literacy. A Spearman Correlation statistic indicated that trust in Federal government and government parastatals will influence trust in communication on the COVID-19 pandemic (r-value = 0.547, p-value = 0.000) but that trust in state government and parastatals will lead to distrust in federal government and parastatals where there is conflicting communication from both tiers of government (Cramer V value = 0.394, p-value = 0.012). The perception of Nigerian political system as corrupt has a negative influence on the public trust of communication from the government. Political actors therefore need to do something positive to reverse the negative perception ahead of another possible pandemic.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Department of Mass Communication, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria

  • Department of Mass Communication, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria

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