Developing Health Communication Materials During a Pandemic (original) (raw)
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Developing pandemic communication strategies: Preparation without panic
Communication in the media regarding a potential avian influenza epidemic can serve to accurately and effectively inform the public OR misinform and contribute to unnecessary public panic and subsequent undesirable responses. Governments have time to develop communication strategies and specific messages that can effectively convey desired information at different stages of the anticipated pandemic. Effective social marketing incorporates the concepts of formative research, audience segmentation, and consumer focus. Based on the findings from earlier research on public awareness and understanding of bird flu, the collaborators of the project developed evidence-based advertising messages for two primary time-points in pandemic preparation and tested in a series of focus groups; modified them based on the findings; and then re-tested the final campaign. These findings provide important recommendations for the development of future social marketing campaigns in the event of pandemics o...
The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen civil society organisations in South Africa play an important communicative role, which alongside government, has cumulatively helped to minimise the spread of the disease. In this study, we explore the ways in which civil society recognised gaps in government communication and stepped in, to both draw attention to these gaps but also to devise solutions. We used qualitative approaches to gather and analyse data. Nine representatives of four civil society groups were interviewed. Interviews were later transcribed, and thematically analysed. The study found that although the government, through its agencies and presidential addresses to the nation made concerted efforts to provide relevant information to an entire population, civil society was quick to identify the communications lacunae and stepped in where there was lack of reach. They identified inadequacies such as: channels of communication not being used optimally, neglected languages not being used, a lack of information based on scientific evidence, a lack of context-driven information particularly for rural communities, and a lack of information regarding where to access government subventions and food aid. Applying health risk and development communications-based approaches to the findings of this study1, we recommend that pandemic communications interventions must be cognisant of the unique socio-cultural and economic contexts of communities, their beliefs, health literacy levels and media exposure. We also recommend that in future collaborations with community media and community groups when designing public health communications strategies are critical.
Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2022
Objectives Communication during a pandemic is key in ensuring adoption of preventive behaviours and limiting disease transmission. The aim of the study was to explore how communication specialists working in health and governmental institutions and healthcare professionals have communicated about COVID-19, and how different groups of the public have perceived official communications on COVID-19. Methods We conducted an exploratory qualitative study. Data were collected via individual semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions. The Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model was used as a theoretical framework to guide data interpretation. Results We interviewed 6 communication specialists and 5 healthcare professionals. Three focus groups were held with 23 participants (8 young adults, 9 Quebecers of Asian ethnicity, and 6 Quebecers who suffered harshly from economic consequences of the pandemic and measures). Although daily press conferences were rapidly implemented in Quebec, participants highlighted several communication challenges, including accuracy and credibility of information in a context of uncertainties and rapidly evolving knowledge. Participants also identified paternalism, stigmatization of some communities, and issues with promoting action and mobilization of some subpopulations as communication challenges. Conclusion Our study showed that the six core CERC principles have not all been applied systematically in communication interventions in Quebec. Despite some limitations, messages about COVID-19 risk were clearly and consistently communicated and were generally well understood by most Quebecers.
2021
Pandemic health emergencies require timely awareness by credible information and trust in the operational system to inform, instruct, promote protective behaviour, and dismantle rumours to mitigate the impact, particularly in the absence of a vaccine during this current COVID-19 situation. Various government and non-government organizations generated an overwhelming number of communication materials (infodemic) for diverse populations around pandemic related practices. However, access to and utility of communication materials have been limited for the vulnerable populations due to social determinants of health such as linguistic or technology barriers as well as trust on communicated messages. A systematic review was conducted in June-September of 2020 adopting a scoping review framework and PRISMA-ScR model. Collecting primary data from conveniently selected relevant service providers or policy planners during the COVID-19 pandemic followed this. Social determinants of health as so...
Health Communication for COVID-19 and beyond : Exploring newer horizons
Communicator , 2020
As the year 2020 began with the COVID-19 crisis, various issues related directly and also indirectly came up in all walks of our life, closely fighting for attention. These include preparedness for facing such an uphill task during this kind of testing times, the vulnerability of the human race itself against the outbreak of diseases, potential future problems to be tackled once the pandemic was controlled out among others. They raised sufficient grounds for severe deliberations by the quarters concerned cutting across geographical as well as political borders. A major one out of these is the need for having a mprehensive, robust and dynamic ‘communication’ plan for effective health nformation dissemination to the people at every level. This shall serve two important purposes. First– the messages of a healthy lifestyle shall reach out to the people in the right perspective. Secondly– gradually convert the mindset of the masses towards taking such messages seriously for the sake of the very survival of humankind. This study examines the current status of health communication, especially in the Indian context, with the possibility of arriving at a few recommendations for future usage. The study also attempts to identify several critical issues in this regard. These include bottlenecks on the way of achieving success, concern for mental health under such circumstances, identifying potential stakeholders, efforts from academic initiatives in this domain for empowering the people etc. It also looks at the issue of ‘risk communication’ which is a closely-related subject of the overall domain of ‘health communication’. Keywords: Academic initiative, Media, New media, Public health, Stakeholders
Transformation of health communication literacy in the pandemic era
Informasi, 2021
Indonesian public health communication literacy is the education center for the government and related institutions. The formulation of this research problem is how to model health communication literacy in communities in tourism areas in Indonesia. The research objective was to determine the health communication literacy model in the community in tourism areas in Indonesia. The concept used in this research is new media literacy and health communication and audience attitudes. Several previous studies support this research. The method used is quantitative by distributing questionnaires to respondents. The result of the research is that health communication literacy on social media in a cognitive structure greatly affects the respondents. However, at the conative level, there are still some respondents who do not care about this pandemic because of the long duration. In the simple regression results, this study shows a great influence on the respondent's attitude. The suggestion...
(Mis)communicating about COVID-19: Insights from Health and Crisis Communication
Health Communication, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the United States and the world. In this article, we discuss several communication challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, with insights from the fields of health and crisis communication. We focus in particular on the lack of clarity in the US response in terms of both what behaviors we are trying to change and how we are communicating about behavior change. While the mixed messages and contradictions have hampered the US response thus far, it is our hope that we will do better going forward. This will require state and local health departments, public health organizations, and all of us to increasingly apply our field's best practices to help calm fears, change behavior, and ultimately reduce suffering and save lives.
Communicating About COVID-19: Practices for Today, Planning for Tomorrow
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 2020
In times of public health crises, effective information on how to perform daily activities can be central to the stability of local communities. Technical communicators can make important contributions to these situations by developing materials that meet local informational needs. This entry reviews strategies technical communicators can use to address public health challenges on the local level both today and in the future.
AJTMH, 2021
Adherence to protective measures is a major component of COVID-19 epidemic control. COVID-19 health literacy is a major driver of this adherence, and the evaluation of health literacy levels is the basis for designing an effective communication strategy. We conducted a quantitative socio-anthropological study of the knowledge of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and perception of the prevention messages in Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone. There are widespread erroneous ideas regarding the transmission of and the protection against COVID-19. The majority of people are unaware that asymptomatic individuals can transmit the virus. Knowledge of the risk factors for severe disease is not sufficient, and the majority of individuals fear contracting COVID-19 by visiting a health center. Our study also shows the achievements of communication campaigns on several aspects: almost everybody has heard of the virus and heard or read the messages on the protective measures and a large majority of people think that these measures are effective against COVID-19. Based on these results, we propose a communication strategy that will emphasize that asymptomatic individuals can transmit the virus, emphasize the risk factors, reassure individuals regarding the safety of frequenting health centers, and design specific messages targeting young populations.