MisPHIT:
Misinformation Public Health Intervention Tools
Health misinformation - false or misleading information that runs
counter to best available evidence - has impeded public health initiatives for
as long as such initiatives have existed, across areas of public health as
varied as seat belt use, nutrition, water fluoridation, smoking cessation, use
of statins, cancer screening and treatment, and (of course) vaccination. Existing efforts to combat health misinformation have
primarily focused on providing people with better information, or helping them
to better identify misinformation. Such approaches focus primarily on the
information itself. We
propose that anti-misinformation interventions should specifically target relevant
behaviours, i.e. misinformation-associated health behaviours (MAHBs), and that effective
interventions need to more clearly identify, specify, and
target the full range of determinants of MAHBs, and not only the information
(or misinformation) seen as associated with those behaviours. By framing this problem in terms of
the behaviours rather than the (mis)information, we can engage the full range
of behavioural theories and methods that have recently transformed
implementation science.
The overall goal of this
project is to leverage implementation science theories, tools, and methods to
design more effective and ethically informed public health interventions that
reduce misinformation-associated health behaviours (MAHBs).
This project will
involve:
1) Conducting evidence syntheses to document how core concepts from
implementation science have informed study of MAHBs to date;
2) Employing new theory-guided interview approaches to elicit expertise
from theory experts across many disciplines that study misinformation, and
real-world expertise from decision makers and public health stakeholders
involved in designing interventions against it;
3) Co-developing tools (based on implementation science and real-world
expertise) and interventions targeting MAHBs;
4) Conducting innovative conceptual analysis of ethics challenges posed by
behavioural theory-informed misinformation interventions, and developing
practical solutions to these challenges to support implementation.
Project Team:
PIs:
Jamie Brehaut,
Justin Presseau
Co-Is:
Heather Colquhoun,
Ian Graham,
Nicola McCleary,
Stuart Nicholls,
Andrea Patey,
Monica Taljaard,
Charles Weijer
Collaborators:
Bukun Adegbembo, Mindy Goldman, Lanre Tunji-Ajayi
Patient Partners:
Juliette Inglis, Mei Lin Yee
Research Coordinator: Kelly Carroll
Research Associate: Natasha Hudek
PhD Trainee: Rowan Green
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Publications to Date:
Bang C, Carroll K, Mistry N, Presseau J, Hudek
N, Yanikomeroglu S, Brehaut JC. Use of Implementation Science Concepts
in the Study of Misinformation: A Scoping Review.
Health Educ Behav.
2025 Jun;52(3):340-353.
