Information Anxiety Among Factory Workers

Information during crises can be a double-edged sword – essential to dispel misinformation, and often a cause for anxiety. Anxiety, in turn, can lead to poor decision-making. This was apparent in the global COVID-19 pandemic. In an increasingly digital world, misinformation has become easier to produce and share. In India, three out of five people are vulnerable to health misinformation. The pandemic proved to be fertile ground for misleading information. Migrant factory workers who were doubly harmed due to work shutdowns and exclusion from local policy-making were also susceptible to misinformation about COVID-19, its causes, consequences, and cures. We decided to create an intervention that would disseminate accurate communications to migrant workers about the public health crisis. 

Can information on COVID-19 be delivered without negative consequences to mental health? What are the most impactful modes of delivery?

We selected individuals from an administrative dataset of 23 factories in Karnataka, a southern state of India. The sample was young with an average age of 24 years. We first measured their knowledge of COVID-19 and screened them for depression and anxiety. We then randomly assigned them to receive information pertaining to COVID-19 via one of three modes: text messages, a pre-recorded audio message, or phone calls. About 20% of the participants were assigned to receive text messages, and the rest were split between pre-recorded audio and phone calls. The content of the message remained unchanged for all three modes.

• A third of the migrant workers surveyed believed turmeric and other remedies could prevent the disease.
• Almost half did not mention cough or fever as COVID-19 symptoms.
• We found that, for under $0.25 employers could reduce worker stress and anxiety by 16% through individual calling.

Compared to automated methods, phone calls improved Covid-19 knowledge and alleviated mental health challenges among people without smartphones. Our analysis shows that information alone didn’t do much for mental health. It was the human connection.

If you are in a position of leadership in an organization, please give thought to how you are communicating with your employees during a crisis. And if you are just another uninfluential person on the internet, consider giving someone a call. They might like to hear from you more than you know.