Telling Stories: Health Information Literacy Through Media Coverage

Background: The objective of this program is to share an innovative approach with librarians teaching health information literacy concepts. Using the example of COVID-19 misinformation, specifically the promotion of the antiparasitic drug ivermectin as a treatment for COVID, we designed an interactive class session tracking the origin of ivermectin’s alleged potential. We use this lens to compare and contrast information sources including pre-print servers and various study formats, and the strengths and perils of evaluating information in a social media driven news environment. These sessions were targeted toward medical students and public health students, but it is adaptable to other contexts.

Description: This class was inspired by a Washington Post article that described the experiences of physicians who were seeing patients presenting with symptoms of ivermectin overdose. This phenomenon was quickly tied to prominent social media voices that actively promoted ivermectin as a viable treatment. We traced the origin of this story and found that much of ivermectin’s promise as a treatment is tied to a now-retracted pre-print. This class was developed to teach information evaluation, and we applied ACRL’s “authority is constructed and contextual” frame to a timely–and still evolving–story.

Implementing this class hinged on researching and developing a narrative presentation that followed the breadcrumb trail of the story, highlighting various types of publications along the way. We also chose to incorporate discussion questions and an activity to both highlighted vetted sources (Micromedex, Clinical Pharmacology).

Conclusion: The instructors observed that students exhibited a high level of engagement with following the breadcrumb trails to see how science gets distorted in social media, particularly via social media influencers and producers with expansive platforms.
They also expressed interest in pre-prints vs. pre-pub ahead of print and outlining the distinctions. Future iterations of this session will include a brief assessment.