Migrant Workers' Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Completed

• Conditions: Coronavirus; Trust; Misinformation

• Registration Number: NCT04718519
• Lead Sponsor: Yale-NUS College

Brief Summary

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. In this study, we seek to document the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief.

Detailed Description

Rumors circulate widely during public health crises and have deleterious consequences. Vulnerable populations such as migrant workers tend to lack access to accurate health information, which can put them at higher risk for receiving and spreading misinformation.

In this study, we seek to document (i) the base rates of migrant workers' rumor exposure and (ii) identify predictors of rumor hearing, sharing and belief. These predictors include trust in institutions, risk perceptions, online habits and socio-demographic variables.

Data was taken from the COVID-19 Migrant Health Study, a cross-sectional study of male migrants employed in manual labor jobs within Singapore.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-06-22
• Primary Completion: 2020-10-11
• Study Completion: 2020-10-11
• Study First Submitted: 2021-01-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-01-20
• Study First Posted: 2021-01-22
• Status Verified: 2021-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-04-30
• Last Update Posted: 2021-05-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Male
• Target Recruitment: 1011

Inclusion Criteria

• At least 21 years old
• Holds a government work permit identifying their employment status

Exclusion Criteria

• NIL

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Online habits	baseline	We investigated the number of hours per day that participants' spent checking COVID-19 news and discussing COVID-19 on social media.
Confidence in government	baseline	Participants were asked how confident they were that the government could control the nationwide spread of COVID-19
Fear for job	baseline	Participants were asked how fearful they were about their job during the COVID-19 situation
Fear for health	baseline	Participants were asked how fearful they were about their health during the COVID-19 situation
Degree of exposure to rumours	baseline	We investigated participants' familiarity with five rumors that had been widely spread during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) drinking water frequently will help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (2) eating garlic can help prevent infection (COVID-19 prevention); (3) the outbreak arose from people eating bat soup (COVID-19 origins); (4) the virus was created in a US lab to affect China's economy (COVID-19 origins); and (5) the virus was created in a Chinese lab as a bioweapon (COVID-19 origins).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Yale NUS; 🇸🇬 Singapore, Singapore