Source credibility is one of the central aspects to focus on when dealing with health-related messages. The credibility of sources includes such domains as the author’s (and the source’s) credentials and expertise concerning the topic discussed (Real et al., 2018). For instance, monographs, peer-reviewed journals, official websites of health-related organizations and institutions, and reputable newspapers are all credible sources of information for health and scientific information.
Source credibility is essential for identifying the relevance of data and the extent to which it can be trusted. For example, regarding the COVID situation, the data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can be trusted and can be instrumental in informing the public. For instance, according to CDC (2021), over 31 million COVID cases have been registered in the USA. Scholarly articles can be used to support the arguments provided to the public regarding diverse health issues, for instance, such as COVID treatment (Marovich et al., 2020). Healthcare professionals can refer to such sources to refer to the most recent scientific advances in medicine.
Public health professionals can combat misinformation about health by referring to credible sources and providing clear data to the public. Healthcare practitioners should always support their arguments with reliable sources and encourage people to read the mentioned information from credible sources exclusively. It is critical to inform individuals about the hazards of trusting information from such unreliable sources as social media posts, electronic sources (excluding official websites of credible organizations and institutions), or rumors.
I will make sure I am a trusted source of accurate and relevant health information for the members of the community, patients, and my colleagues. I will always unveil the sources of the information I provide, mentioning the credentials and expertise of the source or authors. I will always refer to several credible sources of data on a topic to ensure the use of unbiased and relevant data.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). COVID data tracker. Web.
Marovich, M., Mascola, J. R., & Cohen, M. S. (2020). Monoclonal antibodies for prevention and treatment of COVID-19. JAMA, 324(2), 131-132. Web.
Real, T., Wilkinson, C. E., & Boswell, C. (2018). Literature review: Searching and writing the evidence. In C. Boswell & S. Cannon (Eds.), Introduction to nursing research (pp. 141-170). Jones & Bartlett Learning.