Effect of nutrition-related infodemics and social media on maternal experience: A nationwide survey in a low/middle income country

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of enrolled mothers and their families (n = 5148)

	N	Percent
Maternal age
Less than 20 yr	115	2.2
20-yr	1313	25.5
30-yr	2931	56.9
40-yr	708	13.8
50-yr	81	1.6
Paternal age
Less than 20 yr	27	0.5
20-yr	693	13.5
30-yr	2704	52.5
40-yr	1431	27.8
50-yr	293	5.7
Maternal education
Read and write	64	1.2
Primary school	28	0.5
Preparatory school	91	1.8
Secondary school	441	8.6
University	3042	59.1
Postgraduate	1482	28.8
Paternal education
Read and write	59	1.1
Primary school	18	0.3
Preparatory school	63	1.2
Secondary school	433	8.4
University	3353	65.1
Postgraduate	1222	23.7
Maternal occupation
Working	3321	64.5
Not working	1827	35.5
Paternal occupation
Working	5061	98.3
Not working	87	1.7
Residence
Urban	4202	81.6
Rural	946	18.4
Crowding index
≤ 2	4878	94.8
> 2	270	5.2

Table 2 Management of knowledge source, n (%)

Domain	Question	Always	Usually	Often	Sometimes	Never
Currency	When was the information published or posted?	1216 (23.6)	1360 (26.4)	1611 (31.3)	805 (15.6)	156 (3.0)
	Has the information been revised or updated?	1181 (22.9)	1423 (27.6)	1549 (30.1)	802 (15.6)	193 (3.7)
Authority	Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?	1453 (28.2)	1351 (26.2)	1243 (24.1)	876 (17.0)	225 (4.4)
	What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?	1399 (27.2)	1357 (26.4)	1219 (23.7)	907 (17.6)	266 (5.2)
	Is there contact information such as a publisher or e-mail address?	512 (9.9)	763 (14.8)	1300 (25.3)	1786 (34.7)	787 (15.3)
Accuracy	Is the information supported by evidence?	1625 (31.6)	1562 (30.35)	1264 (24.6)	530 (10.3)	167 (3.2)
Purpose	What is the purpose of the information? To inform? Teach? Sell? Entertain? Persuade?	1617 (31.4)	1561 (30.3)	1143 (22.2)	621 (12.1)	206 (4.0)
	Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?	1260 (24.5)	1697 (33.0)	1282 (24.9)	677 (13.2)	232 (4.5)
	Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?	1214 (23.6)	1317 (25.6)	1160 (22.5)	987 (19.25)	470 (9.1)

Table 3 Relationship between management of information sources and nutrition knowledge and myths

	Nutrition knowledge			Nutrition myths
	Low nutrition knowledge	Intermediate to high nutrition knowledge	P value	Holding nutrition myths	Not holding nutrition myths	P value
Currency/When was the information published or posted?
Always	417 (34.3)	799 (65.7)	0.852	528 (43.4)	688 (56.6)	0.441
Usually	447 (32.9)	913 (67.1)		581 (42.7)	779 (57.3)
Often	559 (34.7)	1052 (65.3)		706 (43.8)	905 (56.2)
Sometimes	278 (34.5)	527 (65.5)		377 (46.8)	428 (53.2)
Never	55 (35.3)	101 (64.7)		70 (44.9)	86 (55.1)
Currency/Has the information been revised or updated?
Always	405 (34.3)	776 (65.7)	0.571	507 (42.9)	674 (57.1)	0.258
Usually	461 (32.4)	962 (67.6)		623 (43.8)	800 (56.2)
Often	542 (35.0)	1007 (65.0)		664 (42.9)	885 (57.1)
Sometimes	283 (35.3)	519 (64.7)		380 (47.4)	422 (52.6)
Never	65 (33.7)	128 (66.3)		88 (45.6)	105 (54.4)
Authority/Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
Always	495 (34.1)	958 (65.9)	0.988	636 (43.8)	817 (56.2)	0.947
Usually	459 (34.0)	892 (66.0)		605 (44.8)	746 (55.2)
Often	427 (34.4)	816 (65.6)		541 (43.5)	702 (56.5)
Sometimes	295 (33.7)	581 (66.3)		379 (43.3)	497 (56.7)
Never	80 (35.6)	145 (64.4)		101 (44.9)	124 (55.1)
Authority/What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
Always	489 (35.0)	910 (65.0)	0.225	610 (43.6)	789 (56.4)	0.511
Usually	431 (31.8)	926 (68.2)		604 (44.5)	753 (55.5)
Often	432 (35.4)	787 (64.6)		513 (42.1)	706 (57.9)
Sometimes	306 (33.7)	601 (66.3)		413 (45.5)	494 (54.5)
Never	98 (36.8)	168 (63.2)		122 (45.9)	144 (54.1)
Authority/Is there contact information such as a publisher or e-mail address?
Always	192 (37.5)	320 (62.5)	0.012a	229 (44.7)	283 (55.3)	0.786
Usually	250 (32.8)	513 (67.2)		323 (42.3)	440 (57.7)
Often	474 (36.5)	826 (63.5)		575 (44.2)	725 (55.8)
Sometimes	561 (31.4)	1225 (68.6)		778 (43.6)	1008 (56.4)
Never	279 (35.5)	508 (64.5)		357 (45.4)	430 (54.6)
Accuracy/Is the information supported by evidence?
Always	553 (34.0)	1072 (66.0)	0.089	709 (43.6)	916 (56.4)	0.016
Usually	496 (31.8)	1066 (68.2)		664 (42.5)	898 (57.5)
Often	457 (36.2)	807 (63.8)		542 (42.9)	722 (57.1)
Sometimes	185 (34.9)	345 (65.1)		268 (50.6)	262 (49.4)
Never	65 (38.9)	102 (61.1)		79 (47.3)	88 (52.7)
Purpose/What is the purpose of the information? To inform? Teach? Sell? Entertain? Persuade?
Always	562 (34.8)	1055 (65.2)	0.716	714 (44.2)	903 (55.8)	0.67
Usually	512 (32.8)	1049 (67.2)		669 (42.9)	892 (57.1)
Often	400 (35.0)	743 (65.0)		498 (43.6)	645 (56.4)
Sometimes	209 (33.7)	412 (66.3)		286 (46.1)	335 (53.9)
Never	73 (35.4)	133 (64.6)		95 (46.1)	111 (53.9)
Purpose/Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
Always	440 (34.9)	820 (65.1)	0.241	557 (44.2)	703 (55.8)	0.378
Usually	556 (32.8)	1141 (67.2)		755 (44.5)	942 (55.5)
Often	448 (34.9)	834 (65.1)		534 (41.7)	748 (58.3)
Sometimes	221 (32.6)	456 (67.4)		309 (45.6)	368 (54.4)
Never	91 (39.2)	141 (60.8)		107 (46.1)	125 (53.9)
Purpose/Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?
Always	433 (35.7)	781 (64.3)	0.559	533 (43.9)	681 (56.1)	0.343
Usually	428 (32.5)	889 (67.5)		565 (42.9)	752 (57.1)
Often	400 (34.5)	760 (65.5)		492 (42.4)	668 (57.6)
Sometimes	333 (33.7)	654 (66.3)		455 (46.1)	532 (53.9)
Never	162 (34.5)	308 (65.5)		217 (46.2)	253 (53.8)

^aP < 0.05 is significant.

Table 4 Source of knowledge predictors of holding nutritional myths among mothers with children less than 15 years, n (%)

Predictor of holding nutritional myths		Holding nutrition myths	Not holding nutrition myths	Crude OR [95%CI]1	Adjusted OR [95%CI]2
Studying at school and university	No	1305 (45.2)	1581 (54.8)	0.95 [0.92-0.99]	0.95 [0.92-0.99]
	Yes	957 (42.3)	1305 (57.7)
	P value	0.037a			0.126
Television, radio, newspapers and magazines	No	1336 (42.7)	1792 (57.3)	0.93 [0.88-0.99]	0.93 [0.88-0.99]
	Yes	926 (45.8)	1094 (54.2)
	P value	0.027a			0.020a
Health care providers and scientific websites	No	1741 (43.6)	2255 (56.4)	1.03 [0.97-1.09]	1.03 [0.97-1.09]
	Yes	521 (45.2)	631 (54.8)
	P value	0.318			0.044a
Friends and relatives	No	1473 (42.4)	2002 (57.6)	0.89 [0.84-0.95]	0.89 [0.84-0.95]
	Yes	789 (47.2)	884 (52.8)
	P value	< 0.001b			< 0.001b
Social media	No	1051 (45.4)	1263 (54.6)	1.06 [0.99-1.13]	1.06 [0.99-1.13]
	Yes	1211 (42.7)	1623 (57.3)
	P value	0.053			0.001a

^aP < 0.05 is significant.

^bP < 0.001 is highly significant.

¹Chi-square test.

²Binary logistic regression test.

OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.

Table 5 Source of knowledge predictors of higher nutritional knowledge among mothers with children less than 15 years, n (%)

Predictor of good nutritional knowledge		Bad nutrition knowledge	Good nutrition knowledge	Crude OR [95%CI]	Adjusted OR [95%CI]
Studying at school and university	No	975 (33.8)	1911 (66.2)	1.02 [0.94, 1.04]	1.09 [0.98, 1.23]
	Yes	781 (34.5)	1481 (65.5)
	P value	0.577			0.126
Television, radio, newspapers and magazines	No	1132 (36.2)	1996 (63.8)	1.09 [1.05, 1.15]	1.15 [1.02, 1.29]
	Yes	624 (30.9)	1396 (69.1)
	P value	< 0.001b			0.02a
Health care providers and scientific websites	No	1403 (35.1)	2593 (64.4)	0.85 [0.76, 0.95]	0.87 [0.75, 0.99]
	Yes	353 (30.6)	799 (69.4)
	P value	0.005a			0.044a
Friends and relatives	No	1108 (31.9)	2367 (68.3)	0.9 [0.867, 0.943]	1.3 [1.14, 1.49]
	Yes	648 (38.7)	1025 (61.3)
	P value	< 0.001b			< 0.001b
Social media	No	683 (29.5)	1631 (70.5)	0.81 [0.756, 0.866]	1.22 [1.09, 1.38]
	Yes	1073 (37.9)	1761 (62.1)
	P value	< 0.001b			0.001a

^aP < 0.05 is significant.

^bP < 0.001 is highly significant.

OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.