Our project that we proposed within the TÜBİTAK’s call in order to investigate the problems arising during the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop solutions for these problems, titled “COVID-19 and Society: Social, Human and Economic Effects of the Pandemic, Problems and Solutions” which is a part of ARDEB 1001-Scientific and Technological Research Projects Support Program, has been found worth supporting. The aim of our project titled “Information Seeking and Information Evaluation of Older Adults in the Covid19 Process” is to explore information seeking behavior of individuals over 65 years of age and how they evaluate this information during pandemic period. In this scope; we will seek answers to the questions of what sources the older adults access information from, which information sources they trust and what level they trust, which sources they find more reliable and why.
The World Health Organization (WHO) used the concept of “infodemia” to express the rapid spread of disinformation and misinformation about the pandemic and pandemic-related problems. Director-General of WHO emphasized that the information pollution that became widespread during the epidemic led to the growth of the existing problem, by saying “We are fighting not only epidemic but also infodemic. The fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus and is as dangerous as the virus.”
In times of crisis, people’s need for information and the amount of information increases accordingly. However; due to excessive amount of information and the rapid proliferation of false information besides the correct information are the factors that make it difficult to fight the pandemic outbreak. In addition to the disadvantages of the older population in terms of both accessing information resources and using these technologies, it may become more difficult to access and evaluate the information for this segment of the population. As the older adults are one of the groups which is the most affected by the outbreak, they are one of the most isolated groups in this process. There is a risk that this isolation may bring new physical, mental, psychological and social problems. For these reasons, information needs of the elderly increase during the pandemic process. During this process, the use of communication technologies might help older adults to solve some of the problems they face. Exploring the engagement of older adults with information at the time of crisis and the quality of this relationship, will contribute to understanding the problem and solution seeking.
In the study, socio-demographic characteristics, information access, pre and post COVID-19 information-getting preferences and practices, information deficiencies, pre and post COVID-19 levels of trust in media/ resources and content will be collected through surveys from the sample that will represent the 65 and older population of Turkey.
It is planned to share the results of the study and solution recommendations based on this with the relevant public institutions, policy makers and NGOs, to offer recommendations to media professionals for the development of rights-oriented media practices against discriminating discourse against the older adults which has been increased during the pandemic period, and to share the results of the study with the public through e-books.
The project manager is Prof. Dr. Ferruh Mutlu Binark from Hacettepe University Faculty of Communication, and Akdeniz University Faculty of Health Sciences Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özgür Arun and from Atatürk University Faculty of Communication Asst. Prof. Dr. Duygu Özsoy are the researchers of the project. The scholarship students of the project are K. Beren Kandemir, PhD candidate from Hacettepe University, and Gül Şahinkaya, graduate student from Akdeniz University.
Contact e-mail: 120k613proje@gmail.com