When it comes to COVID-19, people trust a doctor

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-07-15 01:00

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People who were given information on COVID-19 by a doctor in a video, rather than in a generic video that did not feature a doctor, were more likely to remember the information, seek out further information, and adopt self-protective measures, according to a US and German study. The scientists enlisted 18,223 people, who were randomly assigned to either the doctor video or the generic video groups. When they compared white and black people, both groups benefited from being in the doctor video group equally, the researchers say. Involving doctors in COVID-19 messaging should help persuade a broad range of people to seek further information and adopt preventive behaviors to combat COVID-19, they conclude.

Media release

From: JAMA

Effect of Physician-Delivered COVID-19 Public Health Messages and Messages Acknowledging Racial Inequity on Black and White Adults’ Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices Related to COVID-19

What The Study Did: In this randomized clinical trial, a physician messaging campaign was effective in increasing COVID-19 knowledge, information-seeking and self-reported protective behaviors among diverse groups.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Funder: Thisworkwas supported by grant 2029880 from the National Science Foundation to Drs Alsan and Duflo, the Physician/Scientist Development Award from the Executive Committee on Research at Massachusetts General Hospital to Dr Stanford, grant P30 DK040561from the National Institutes of Health to Dr Stanford, grant L30 DK118710 from the National Institutes of Health to Dr Stanford, and the Clinician-Teacher Development Award from the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization at Massachusetts General Hospital to Dr Torres.

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