In the COVID-19 pandemic, refugees' access to information has become increasingly important given the rapid change in the scientific and public health knowledge-base. However, this access is complicated by social distancing requirements that disrupt traditional in-person communication. Many refugees must then rely on alternative information sources to stay informed. Differences in media types and information sources in turn may be related to anxieties arising from the virus and perceptions of others' adherence to recommended protective behaviors. We examine these relationships with survey data from 1,000 refugees living in both camps and non-camp settings in Kenya. Using logit models, we test relationships between information source and anxiety and the effect of these variables on refugees' expected behaviors of community members. Our primary contributions include the finding that information sources consistently exacerbate (e.g., Facebook) or ameliorate (e.g., news from the internet) different anxieties, or can have mixed effects (e.g., radio). We also find that anxiety and information have significant impacts on refugees' expectations of compliance by others and that, whether between camps or between camps and non-camp locales, findings vary by location. Our results have implications for refugee media and infectious disease anxiety scholarship as well as for managing infectious disease response.
翻译:在COVID-19流行病中,由于科学和公共卫生知识库的迅速变化,难民获得信息变得日益重要;然而,由于社会动荡的要求扰乱了传统的现场交流,这种获取变得复杂了。许多难民必须依靠其他信息来源不断了解情况。媒体类型和信息来源的差异反过来可能与病毒引起的焦虑和对他人坚持建议保护行为的看法有关。我们研究这些与居住在肯尼亚难民营和非难民营环境中的1 000名难民的调查数据之间的关系。我们使用逻辑模型,检验信息来源和焦虑之间的关系以及这些变量对难民预期社区成员行为的影响。我们的主要贡献包括发现信息来源不断加剧(例如Facebook)或改善(例如因特网新闻)不同的焦虑或可能产生混杂影响(例如电台)。我们还发现,焦虑和信息对难民对他人遵守要求的期望有着重大影响,无论是难民营之间还是难民营与非难民营之间,以及难民营与非难民营之间,这些变量对难民的预期行为的影响也因地点不同而不同。我们的成果包括发现,信息来源不断加剧(例如脸书)或改善(例如来自互联网的新闻)不同的厌烦恼,或者可能产生混杂效应(例如电台)。我们还发现,对难民对难民营与难民营之间或难民营与非难民营之间对传染病的响应产生了重大影响。我们的结果对管理对难民和焦虑研究的影响。