Study: Using digital literacy tips decreases intention to share health misinformation
A study has assessed the impact of two behaviourally-informed interventions on intentions to share true and false news headlines about COVID-19 on social media.
Participants in the accuracy evaluation prompt group were presented with a prompt containing a neutral, non-COVID related headline.
Participants in the intervention 2 group received digital media literacy tips.
While both interventions were found to be effective, digital media literacy tips reduced false headline sharing three-and-a-half times more than the accuracy prompt.
Overall, the digital media literacy group demonstrated a 21% decrease in intentions to share fake news online compared to the control group.
The study is part of an international collaboration to tackle misinformation, sharing best practices between governments and academics.
Read more about the findings here.
Health Index for England: 2015 to 2020
The Office for National Statistics has published its Health Index for England: 2015 to 2020.
The data offers insight into how the nation's health has changed.
This allows users to take a 'deep dive' into the aspects affecting the health of individuals and communities, and understand whether these might be getting better or worse.
The Health Index is split into three categories describing health in its broadest terms: Healthy People, Healthy Lives and Healthy Places.
These can be further broken down to focus on health topics including mental health and economic conditions.
Scottish Health Survey 2021
The Scottish Health Survey 2021, providing information on the health of adults and children in Scotland, has been published.
Key findings of the survey, which is published annually, include:
- The average level of mental wellbeing among adults has declined
- 5% of adults reported having Long Covid
- 47% reported living with a long-term condition
- 9% had experienced food insecurity
Download the full report here.
'Lack of medical and cultural knowledge' about black communities
A report by the Black Equity Organisation outlines the lived realities and concerns of black communities living in the UK.
In healthcare, participants spoke about the lack of medical and cultural knowledge about black communities seen in healthcare professionals in more senior positions.
They also discussed the discrimination that occurs when self-advocating – particularly the case for LGBTQIA+ participants.
Participants of all ages, genders and backgrounds regularly mentioned being the subject of microaggressions in healthcare.
The elective care backlog and ethnicity
A new report explores how the fallout from the pandemic affected people across different ethnic groups and whether the impact of cancelled procedures was spread evenly.
It found Asian people experienced the largest overall fall in elective procedure activity in the first year of the pandemic – 49% compared with 44% for the white and black groups.
Although the gap narrowed in the second year of the pandemic, there was still a larger deficit of care.
The most deprived groups in the population experienced larger rate falls overall and for most specific procedure groups.
The Nuffield Trust analysis was supported by the NHS Race and Health Observatory.
Study: Communication about medication management in primary care
Observation of annual primary care consultations in Sweden has identified 'several pitfalls' in safe medication management.
Researchers found misunderstandings in communication, failure to report changes in medication treatment and use of generic substitutes complicated mutual understanding and agreement on continued treatment.
They concluded the purpose of annual consultations should be clarified, individual treatment plans could be used more actively and efforts are needed to improve verbal communication and information continuity.
Access the findings in full here.
Long Covid in the community – resource for nurses
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has published a resource on Long Covid, or Post-Covid syndrome.
The resource is designed for nurses working in the community and primary care to support their knowledge base and practice.
Topics covered in the resource include self care, education and co-morbidity.
Download the full resource here.
Mental health care for children and teenagers
A new collection by the NIHR explores the evidence on prescribing antidepressants for children and teenagers.
It includes data on the number of children and teenagers experiencing depression and anxiety, waiting times, trends in prescribing antidepressants and evidence on which are effective.
Why preventing food insecurity will support the NHS and save lives
In this NHS Confederation article, Ruth Lowe and Hashum Mahmood discuss how rising food insecurity is increasing the prevalence of physical and mental health conditions caused by hunger and unhealthy diets.
They say rising rates of food insecurity are a national crisis, putting the most vulnerable at risk and impacting the demand for NHS services.
Survey: National Clinical Audit for Improvement
NHS England is developing a learning community for staff to learn about national clinical audits.
It is carrying out a survey, open until 2 December, to find out what people need.
The results of this survey will be used to:
- Co-create a knowledge hub that is accessible to all those with an interest in national clinical audit
- Facilitate a community of practice and strengthen peer support
- Provide an opportunity for shared learning
- Enable timely signposting of national clinical audit recommendations and best practice case studies