Public Attitudes towards the Role of Digital Media in Enhancing Health Awareness of Epidemics and Infectious Diseases: A Field Study

The research problem of the study is defined in describing, analyzing and evaluating the role of digital media at the level of health awareness, and even developing and instilling aspects of prevention, healthy habits, precautionary measures and their principles among individuals, through a survey study on a sample of the Egyptian public in Alexandria Governorate; From this standpoint, the problem of the study is summarized in a basic question: What are the public’s attitudes towards the role of digital media in improving health awareness of epidemics and infectious diseases?
This study is one of the descriptive studies based on the media survey method with a random sample of (400) of the general public in Alexandria Governorate. The data collection tool was the electronic questionnaire form. The study reached the following conclusions:

The most important digital media that contributed to improving health awareness are: (a) Face book (37.4%), (b) news applications (16.6%), (c) TikTok (8%).
Most of the respondents (70.3%) reported that they rely on digital media as a source of health information on epidemics and infectious diseases, while some respondents (24.8%) reported that they rely to some extent, while others (5%) reported that they do not rely on digital media as a source of health information on epidemics and infectious diseases.
Removing the ambiguity of infectious crises and epidemics represents the most prominent cognitive effects, the public’s reliance on digital media to improve health awareness of epidemics and infectious diseases with a relative weight (91.3%) and an arithmetic mean (2.7), followed by expanding awareness of the way of dealing with infected and sick people with a relative weight (85.9%) and an arithmetic mean (2.6), then defining healthy habits and values ​​with a relative weight (83.6%) and an arithmetic mean (2.5).
Commitment to ethical and professional standards and accuracy before publishing health information represent the most important suggestions of the public to enhance the role of digital media in improving health awareness at (22.4%), followed by awareness of reliable sources of health information and mechanisms for accessing them at (17%), then raising awareness of the negative effects of epidemics and infectious diseases at the individual and societal levels at (14.6%) of the total sample.