Government Communication and Behavioral Change amidst COVID-19: Role of Awareness and Fear & Panic (original) (raw)
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Health SA Gesondheid
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International Journal of Public Health
Objectives: Over 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and intense societal and governmental response, a wealth of research has examined risk perceptions and public risk mitigation behaviours. The vast majority of this inquiry has focused on health risks. Nevertheless, as a “total social fact” influencing nearly every aspect of quotidian life, the pandemic engenders a wide range of risk perceptions.Methods:Via a survey (N = 4,206) of representative samples of the general public in five European countries (Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), we explore perceptions of a range of personal/public health, economic, and societal risks. We also investigate the effects of perceptions of official governmental risk communication in one’s country on risk perceptions and risk mitigation behaviours.Results: Structural equation modelling reveals that whilst perceptions of effective risk communication directly increase behaviours that mitigate COVID-19 health risks, these same perce...
Advance Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2024
As of December 13, 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports about 25 fresh coronavirus cases in Benue State, North Central Nigeria. The Covid-19 epidemic, which resulted in serious disease, fatalities, and economic upheaval, had a tremendous effect on the world. Numerous cities in Nigeria were impacted by the virus, including Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. This study looked at how Port Harcourt citizens communicated and changed their behaviour in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. The study has three objectives: to ascertain Port Harcourt residents' level of awareness of the deadly effects of Covid-19, their familiarity with measures to prevent the virus's transmission, and the degree to which the rules for virus protection were followed. The study used a survey research approach, and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. It was anchored on the Social Responsibility, and Agenda setting theories. The study targeted 384 Port Harcourt residents, and multi-stage sampling was used as the sample strategy. Data from the study were analysed using percentages and tables. The study's findings showed that citizens of Port Harcourt had a very high awareness level of the Covid-19 virus's catastrophic effects, demonstrating that they were aware of the virus's effects. Additionally, there was a very high level of knowledge regarding preventative measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, demonstrating that they were aware of the required safeguards. The level of compliance with the virus prevention guidelines was average. The creation and application of targeted communication strategies with the goal of enhancing adherence to preventive measures was advised. Public health campaigns, social media campaigns, and community participation initiatives were recommended. Additionally, accurate information about Covid-19 prevention and management should be more widely available through a variety of media outlets, such as radio, television, and social media.
Health Communication
Emerging research has examined the role of media coverage of diseases in influencing people's health behavior, particularly their compliance with prevention measures. This study examines whether increased media exposure to COVID-19 news and interpersonal communication about the disease positively relate to people's abidance by prevention measures, and whether perceived knowledge and fear mediate this relationship. The study focuses on Lebanon, whose government and media responses led to a successful containment of COVID-19 in its first phase, although the country was experiencing a severe economic crisis, widespread political unrest, and a massive influx of refugees. It examines both legacy media (Television) and social media, as well as interpersonal communication, through a cross-sectional researcher-administered phone survey of 1,536 adults and a nationally representative probability sample. The fieldwork was conducted between March 27 and April 23, 2020, and resulted in a 51.6% response rate. The findings support the hypotheses that increased media exposure to COVID-19 news positively relates to people's abidance by prevention measures and that perceived knowledge and fear mediate this relationship. However, the same hypotheses for interpersonal communication were not supported.
BMC Public Health, 2021
Background The COVID-19 outbreak is a global pandemic, during which the community preventive and protective behaviors play a crucial role in the containment and control of infection. This study was designed to contribute to the existing knowledge on how risk communication (RC) and risk perception (RP) affect protective and preventive behaviors (PPB) during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods The required data were extracted from a national online survey of Iranian adults aged 15 and older during March 15–19, 2020 (n=3213). Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. Results The study findings reveal that RC has direct and indirect positive effects on PB. Furthermore, this study also provides new evidence indicating that RP mediates the relationship between RC and PB and there is a two-way relationship between RC and RP. These interactions may have impact on risk communication strategies which should be adopted during this pandemic. Conclusion The study findings have r...
Public’s perception on government’s public communication in handling covid-19
Jurnal Kajian Komunikasi, 2021
Covid Task Force was assigned to handle the spread of the covid-19 virus, which keeps increasing and has caused loss of life and materials in various sectors. The task force is required to act quickly and accurately and keep focused, integrated, and synergic with ministries and regional government institutions. In doing its duty, the task force made many efforts, including implementing medical approaches such as preparing reliable medical staff and hospital facilities, implementing legal approaches such as issuing regulations to limit people from gathering or doing activities that may attract many people, and implementing communicative approach by delivering persuasive messages to encourage people to participate in accelerating covid-19 alleviation efforts. Communication strategies are implemented through various media to disseminate persuasive messages. Communicators are also trained to be a source of information regarding handling covid-19. They have to disseminate information to ...
Health communication is crucial for the creation of public awareness about the danger of a pandemic and safety measures. The study is situated in innovation diffusion and neutralization theories because these theories explain how new ideas spread in a society and how individuals normalize moral discomforts and avoid guilty feelings caused by a behavior against the acceptable norm in a society, respectively. Document and text analysis as well as in-depth interview were employed to collect the data. Documents were analyzed and health communication officers were interviewed. Thematic and textual analysis were employed for analysis. The analysis revealed that integrated media and inclusive and participatory communication were the communication strategies employed to alert the public about COVID 19. The public's awareness about Coronavirus increased as a result of the communication. The public's perception and scarcity of logistics were primary challenges. Moreover, the public became negligent in the prevention measures that should be taken due to their lifestyle, culture, and social influence as well as low economic status. As a result, they made themselves vulnerable to the risk of COVID 19. Since the public put themselves in risky situations, ardent and persuasive messages should be designed. Subsequently, the communication should consider changing beyond cognitive skills to bring behavior change.
Health Promotion Perspectives
Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has caused a universal health crisis resulting in significant morbidities and mortalities particularly among high-risk groups. This study sought to determine regional factors associated with knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 mitigation practices and risk perception of contracting the disease in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Methods: A cross-sectional anonymous online study was conducted among 1970 participants between April and May 2020, during the lockdown in many SSA countries. Recruitment of participants was via WhatsApp, Facebook and emails using authors’ networks. The outcome variables were KAP (knowledge, attitudes and practice) of COVID-19 and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc test was run to assess the level of KAP by four regions in SSA. Simple and multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses were performed to examine factors associated with the outcome measures in the four SSA regions. Results: Mean...
Pan-African medical journal, 2020
Introduction: coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is recognized as global pandemic, affecting more than 300,000 worldwide. Ghana joined the international community by confirming first two COVID-19 cases on March 12, 2020. The study aimed to assess the public knowledge, risk perception and preparedness to respond the COVID-19 in the early stage of the outbreak in Ghana. Methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted to collect information from Ghanaian during the early stage of the outbreak from 12th to 20th March 2020. Electronic based questionnaire was developed to collected information on the public knowledge, risk perceptions and preparedness to respond the COVID-19. All people who were aged 18 years and over were invited to participate in the study. Results: a total of 350 participants were recruited into the analysis; 56% were males, with the majority of the study population aged between 18-30 years (61.4%), single (68.9%) and attained tertiary education (95.1%). Regarding COVID-19, 62.7% had “good” knowledge about the outbreak, 68.3% had a high risk of contracting the COVID-19 infection and 81.4% had a moderate preparedness skill to prevent and control the disease. Internet (77.1%) was the major sources of information. Knowledge of COVID-19 was significantly associated with education (p<0.001), age (p=0.018), employment (p=0.011) and health-related occupation (P=0.001) but only religion was associated with risk perception. Conclusion: though overall public knowledge was good, disparity exist among the least educated population, there was high risk perceptions and moderate preparedness skill to respond to COVID-19 among our study population. We recommend that educational campaigns through timely online update on COVID-19, van mobilization and mass media broadcasting should target all groups including those in the rural communities.
Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 2021
Vietnam is considered as one of the countries with the earliest and most effective responses to the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a pandemic with acute respiratory syndrome caused by the new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). An important contribution to the overall success is the effectiveness of the governmental communication strategy in achieving the desired cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Analysis of the qualitative data collected from twelve focus group discussions with a total of 60 participants revealed that due to the government's communication efforts, Vietnamese people have adequate information/knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic, and majority of them experience low emotional levels of anxiety, fear, dread, stress, and panic. Moreover, the communication strategy has helped to form both healthpromoting and safety-seeking behaviors among the community. Further, the characteristics of an effective communication strategy such as reliable sources of communication, usages of multiple social media channels, and transparent message contents in the form of infographic or video clips are identified.