Objective (s): The term infodemic (information epidemic) was proposed following the rapid and widespread growth of true and false information, rumors and fake news during the Covid-19 pandemic and its serious consequences for public health and safety. The main objective of this research was to identify effective strategies for improving media literacy in the face of a health infodemic.
Methods: This study was a scoping review designed and implemented based on the framework developed by O'Malley & Arksey. All the research related to the topic of existing strategies for promoting media literacy and dealing with health infodemic in both Persian and English languages ​​in the period of 2020-2022 in PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, MagIran and SID databases. Along with the Google scholar search engine through the utilization of pertinent keywords and the assessment of performance quality and output, the process is conducted in six distinct steps: identifying the research question, identifying related studies, selecting relevant studies, extracting data, analyzing data, and, finally, expert advice.
Results: 8,311 documents were retrieved from selected databases. After screening titles and abstracts, 128 articles were identified for data collection and content analysis. The selected review documents and strategies for addressing infodemic and promoting media literacy were categorized into 10 subject categories: government oversight, education, fostering critical thinking culture, technology, control and correction measures, dissemination of reliable information, psychological interventions, social networks, public surveillance, and the influence of celebrities.
Conclusion: Focusing on promoting media literacy and implementing evidence-based policies can empower society to navigate health information and combat infodemic disorders.