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

Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye; Ifedolapo Ademosu

doi:doi:10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11

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

Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye, Ifedolapo Ademosu

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 11, Issue 4)

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), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

COVID-19, Nigeria, Trust, Mistrust, Communication

References

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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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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria
AU  - Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye
AU  - Ifedolapo Ademosu
Y1  - 2023/07/11
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
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EP  - 122
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7950
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
AB  - 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.
VL  - 11
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye

Department of Mass Communication, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria
Ifedolapo Ademosu

Department of Mass Communication, Caleb University, Lagos, Nigeria

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Trust and Mistrust in a Pandemic: Evaluation of Acceptance of COVID-19 Communication Tools in Use in Nigeria
AU  - Solomon Abiodun Oyeleye
AU  - Ifedolapo Ademosu
Y1  - 2023/07/11
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
SP  - 113
EP  - 122
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7950
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20231104.11
AB  - 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.
VL  - 11
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download