Psychological Interventions for Mis/Disinformation Detection : A Systematic–Narrative Review of Their Effectiveness for Older Adults

Barnett, Holly and Warmelink, Lara and Nightingale, Sophie and Ahmed, Faraz and Crawford, Trevor (2026) Psychological Interventions for Mis/Disinformation Detection : A Systematic–Narrative Review of Their Effectiveness for Older Adults. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 7 (1). pp. 56-70. ISSN 2689-0208

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Abstract

Misinformation and disinformation are increasingly used to deceive individuals online. Identifying such deception can be particularly challenging for older adults. It is therefore crucial to understand how older users navigate online spaces. Despite the development of several interventions aimed at enhancing people’s ability to detect misinformation, their effectiveness among older adults remains underresearched. This systematic–narrative review identified interventions that target the psychological mechanisms contributing to online vulnerability and focused on their effectiveness among adults aged 50+. Searches were performed across APA PsycInfo, Education Resources Information Center, Academic Search Ultimate, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Scopus, Google, and Policy Commons. Of the 1,058 results retrieved, 16 articles were eligible for inclusion. Data regarding the implementation and outcome of interventions were extracted, enabling us to perform a narrative synthesis analysis. Aligning with previous research, three primary intervention types were identified: bunking, boosting, and nudging. Interventions provide mixed effectiveness among older adults, but bunking programs appear to be the most effective by facilitating discernment of both true and false content. Several interventions contributed to negative side effects among older adults, such as an overconfidence in detection ability and decreased sharing of true information. Overall, psychological interventions provide a promising mechanism to support digital deception detection, but age-specific approaches are necessary to protect older users from the harms of false information online.