  Existing communications and behavioral theories have been adopted to address
health misinformation. Although various theories and models have been used to
investigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no framework specially designed for
social listening or misinformation studies using social media data and natural
language processing techniques. This study aimed to propose a novel yet
theory-based conceptual framework for misinformation research. We collected
theories and models used in COVID-19 related studies published in peer-reviewed
journals. The theories and models ranged from health behaviors, communications,
to misinformation. They are analyzed and critiqued for their components,
followed by proposing a conceptual framework with a demonstration. We reviewed
Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior/Reasoned Action, Communication
for Behavioral Impact, Transtheoretical Model, Uses and Gratifications Theory,
Social Judgment Theory, Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model,
Behavioral and Social Drivers, and Hype Loop. Accordingly, we proposed the
Social Media Listening for Public Health Behavior Conceptual Framework by not
only integrating important attributes of existing theories, but also adding new
attributes. The proposed conceptual framework was demonstrated in the Freedom
Convoy social media listening. The proposed conceptual framework can be used to
better understand public discourse on social media, and it can be integrated
with other data analyses to gather a more comprehensive picture. The framework
will continue to be revised and adopted as health misinformation evolves.
