@article{ref1,
title="The role of social media in spreading panic among primary and secondary school students during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire study from the Gaza  Strip, Palestine",
journal="Heliyon",
year="2020",
author="Radwan, Eqbal and Radwan, Afnan and Radwan, Walaa",
volume="6",
number="12",
pages="e05807-e05807",
abstract="BACKGROUND: The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up various issues on social media platforms among school students. The dangerous issue is that  misinformation, fake news, and rumours spread on social media faster than reliable  information, and also faster than the virus itself, damaging the health systems and  affecting the mental health of social media users. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: The current study aims  at determining how social media affects the spread of panic about COVID-19 among  primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. <br><br>METHODS: The  data were collected through an online questionnaire. By utilizing convenience  sampling, we have reached a total of 1067 school students, aged between 6 and 18  years, from 56 schools located in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Independent Samples  T-test, ANOVA, and chi-square tests were used to compare the data. <br><br>RESULTS: The  results showed that social media has a significant impact on spreading panic about  COVID-19 among school students, with a potential negative impact on their mental  health and psychological well-being. Facebook was the most common social media  platform among students (81.8%), where female students had a higher likelihood than  male students to use it to get news about COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Health news was the  most frequently topic seen, read, or heard (n = 529, 56.2%) during the COVID-19  pandemic, where males were more likely to follow health news than females (p <  0.001). The majority of the students (n = 736, 78.1%) were psychologically affected,  whereas those physically affected were the lowest (n = 12, 1.3%). Female students  were psychologically affected and experienced greater fear significantly more than  male students (p < 0.001). The effect of social media panic depending on a student's  age and gender. (p < 0.001). This study showed a significant positive correlation  between social media and spreading panic about COVID-19 (R = 0.891). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS:  During the closure of schools, students are using social media to continue their  learning as well as to know more information about the COVID-19 outbreak. Social  media has a main role in rapidly spreading of panic about the COVID-19 pandemic  among students in the Gaza Strip.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2405-8440",
doi="10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05807",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05807"
}