COVID-19 In Social Media:the Effect Of Fear Appeal Messages In Facebook In User’s Hygienic Perception

With the outbreak of COVID-19 disease in late 2019,a massive wave of fear appeal messages related to this disease was published in the world media.Facebook users also widely spread fear appeal messages related to COVID-19.This research uses the theory of EPPM to explore the impact of COVID-19 related fear appeal messages in Facebook social networks on the hygienic perception of Facebook users in Afghanistan.To achieve this goal,a nationwide paper-and-pen survey was conducted in five populated provinces of Afghanistan among Facebook users who were exposed to Fear appeal messages related to COVID-19.The EPPM questionnaire was developed using the World Health Organization recommendations,and after confirming its reliability,it was provided to 425 Facebook users.By using the non-random quota sampling method,the samples were selected.To analyze the obtained data,Pearson correlation coefficients and multilinear regression tests with a 95% confidence level(P <0.05)were used using SPSS 25 software.The Pearson correlation coefficient results show a significant positive relationship between the Facebook users’ perception of threat severity,perception of susceptibility to COVID-19,perception of self-efficacy,perception of response efficacy,and Fear appeal messages.The multilinear regression results show that the variables of perceived threat severity and perceived susceptibility of Facebook users in Afghanistan can be predicted through the exposure to Fear appeal messages.In contrast,the self-efficacy and the response efficacy variables cannot be predicted by Facebook users’ exposure to Fear appeal messages.Finally,as Facebook users in Afghanistan perceived a more significant threat of COVID-19 than self-efficacy,they were led to the process of fear control.