| Abstract: |
Social media has emerged as a dominant conduit for health information in Nigeria,
yet the authenticity of this information and its relationship to safe health practices
remain understudied at the local level. This study assessed how social media users
in Agbor, Delta State, evaluate the authenticity of health information encountered
online and its association with safe health behaviour. A cross-sectional survey was
conducted among 385 active social media users aged 18–55 years in Agbor,
selected through cluster random sampling. A validated questionnaire assessed
health information-seeking behaviour, authenticity evaluation practices, and safe
health practice composite scores. Binary logistic regression identi?ed independent
predictors of safe health practices. Most respondents (71.4%) primarily used
WhatsApp and Facebook for health information. Only 28.3% employed structured
authenticity veri?cation strategies. Respondents with high authenticity evaluation
competency had signi?cantly higher safe health practice scores (76.4 ± 9.3 vs. 52.1
± 13.6; p < 0.001). Low health literacy (aOR = 0.38), high trust in social media
(aOR = 0.44), and infrequent fact-checking (aOR = 0.41) were independently
associated with unsafe health practices. Social media health information
consumption is near-universal in Agbor, but critical authenticity evaluation is rare.
Poor evaluation competency is signi?cantly associated with unsafe health
practices. The study recommends strengthening digital health literacy through
integrated health education, promotion of fact-checking platforms, credibility
labelling of online health information, and community-based peer ambassador
training to improve the identi?cation and dissemination of accurate health
information.
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