Assessing the Quality of COVID-19 Messages on Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences Website: A Content Analysis

Aims This study aimed to assess the quality of public messages related to COVID-19 available on the Website of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS). Background Accurate and reliable health information is critical in the community, especially when facing global health crises. Medical universities play a key role in providing this information to the general public and the quality of information is expected to be favorable. Objective The study aims to conduct a content analysis to evaluate the quality of COVID-19 messages published by AJUMS, focusing on several key criteria including message content type, scientific ability and accuracy of messages, fluency and simplicity of messages, the appearance of content design, and being based on scientific evidence. Methods In this descriptive study, 20 news messages were produced on the main website of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences (WEBDA). Faculties and sub-units were randomly selected and evaluated with the help of a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was performed using SPSS25 software, as well as Fleiss' Kappa coefficient and descriptive statistics methods. Results Of the messages, 73.4% (80/109) were concerned with the prevention, and 34.9% (38/109) were concerned with the management and control of COVID-19. Total 89% (97/109) of messages were targeted at the public, while 14.7% (16/109) were addressed to people in contact with the patient. About 42% (46/109) of the content of messages was related to social distancing, 38.5% (42/109) to hand hygiene, and 16.5% (18/109) to vaccination. About 92.7% (101/109) of messages did not mention any specific group. In terms of message approach, 45% (49/109) of messages had a news tone; 23% (26/109) had a persuasive tone; and 9.2% (10/109) had a threatening tone. Also, the most and least attention of the messages was on physical health (46.8% (51/109)) and spiritual health (2.8% (3/109)), respectively. Conclusion To effectively educate the public on health issues, decision-makers should employ experts in message design to provide reliable content. This ensures the target audience receives accurate, information to improve their health and well-being, as most current messages lack scientific strength, fluency, simplicity, and appealing design.