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Effect of Health Misinformation Education on Ability to Identify False Health Claims among University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Health misinformation has become an important public health concern because false, misleading, or inaccurate health claims can influence individual health decisions, promote harmful practices, reduce trust in credible health information, and contribute to inappropriate healthcare-seeking. University students are frequently exposed to health information through social media, messaging applications, online platforms, blogs, video-sharing platforms, and peer networks, making them an important population for interventions aimed at improving health information literacy. Limited ability to distinguish accurate health information from false claims may increase students' vulnerability to misinformation, particularly when health content is presented in persuasive or emotionally appealing formats. Health misinformation education provides an opportunity to improve students' knowledge of reliable health information sources, strengthen critical evaluation skills, and increase their ability to identify false health claims. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of health misinformation education on the ability to identify false health claims among university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Health Literacy Framework. The Health Belief Model explains how students' perceptions of health risks, perceived benefits of evaluating health information, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their responses to health misinformation. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, self-efficacy, reinforcement, critical thinking, and behavioural skills in developing the ability to evaluate health information. The Health Literacy Framework emphasizes individuals' ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information appropriately when making health-related decisions. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how health misinformation education may influence students' ability to identify false health claims in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate and postgraduate students aged 18 years and above enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible students. Health misinformation education will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to educational sessions, frequency and duration of training, identification of credible health information sources, recognition of misleading headlines, evaluation of evidence and references, identification of unsupported medical claims, recognition of manipulated or misleading content, verification of information before sharing, identification of health misinformation on social media, and practical exercises in fact-checking. The ability to identify false health claims will be assessed using indicators such as students' accuracy in distinguishing true and false health statements, identification of unsupported health claims, recognition of misleading statistics or interpretations, evaluation of source credibility, verification of claims using reliable sources, identification of fabricated health information, and ability to explain reasons for classifying claims as false or unreliable. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized health-information literacy assessment tools, scenario-based false-claim identification tests, and relevant educational intervention records. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' characteristics, exposure to health misinformation, sources of health information, and baseline ability to identify false claims. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of health misinformation education on students' ability to identify false health claims. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, false-claim identification scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that health misinformation education has a significant positive effect on university students' ability to identify false health claims in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured health misinformation education are expected to demonstrate higher accuracy in distinguishing credible health information from false or misleading claims than students without comparable exposure. Education may improve students' ability to evaluate information sources, examine supporting evidence, recognize exaggerated health claims, identify misleading statistics, question emotionally persuasive content, and verify information before accepting or sharing it. Practical exercises involving common social-media health claims may strengthen students' confidence and critical evaluation skills. The intervention may also encourage students to rely more frequently on credible sources such as healthcare professionals, government health agencies, academic institutions, and evidence-based health information platforms. However, rapidly changing online content, sophisticated misinformation techniques, algorithm-driven exposure, confirmation bias, peer influence, and limited access to reliable information may continue to challenge students' ability to distinguish false claims. The study therefore expects structured, practical, evidence-based, and continuously updated health misinformation education to contribute significantly to improved health-information evaluation skills among university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on health misinformation, health literacy, digital health literacy, health information evaluation, public health communication, social media and health, health education, and university health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, universities, university health centres, public health practitioners, health educators, communication specialists, digital-health professionals, student organizations, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving students' ability to navigate health information. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating health misinformation education into university health programmes, strengthening digital health literacy, teaching students practical fact-checking skills, promoting credible health information sources, developing student-focused misinformation awareness materials, and strengthening public health communication strategies for addressing false health claims in Nigeria.

Keywords: Health misinformation education, false health claims, health information literacy, digital health literacy, university students, health misinformation, health education, social media, public health communication, Nigeria, public health.