Mainstream News Media’s Role in Public Health Communication During Crises: Assessment of Coverage and Correction of COVID-19 Misinformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
May O. Lwin ◽  
Si Yu Lee ◽  
Chitra Panchapakesan ◽  
Edson Tandoc
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Public Health Communication

scholarly journals Chasing the ghost of infection past: identifying thresholds of change during the COVID-19 infection in Spain

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Santamaría ◽  
Joaquín Hortal
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Growth Curves ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Exponential Growth Rate ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Key Events

Abstract One of the largest nationwide bursts of the first COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Spain, where infection expanded in densely populated areas through March 2020. We analyse the cumulative growth curves of reported cases and deaths in all Spain and two highly populated regions, Madrid and Catalonia, identifying changes and sudden shifts in their exponential growth rate through segmented Poisson regressions. We associate these breakpoints with a timeline of key events and containment measures, and data on policy stringency and citizen mobility. Results were largely consistent for infections and deaths in all territories, showing four major shifts involving 19–71% reductions in growth rates originating from infections before 3 March and on 5–8, 10–12 and 14–18 March, but no identifiable effect of the strengthened lockdown of 29–30 March. Changes in stringency and mobility were only associated to the latter two shifts, evidencing an early deceleration in COVID-19 spread associated to personal hygiene and social distancing recommendations, followed by a stronger decrease when lockdown was enforced, leading to the contention of the outbreak by mid-April. This highlights the importance of combining public health communication strategies and hard confinement measures to contain epidemics.

scholarly journals The Use of 'No Evidence' Statements in Public Health

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Cummings
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Human Health Risk ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
The Public

Public health communication makes extensive use of a linguistic formulation that will be called the “no evidence” statement. This is a written or spoken statement of the form “There is no evidence that P” where P stands for a proposition that typically describes a human health risk. Danger lurks in these expressions for the hearer or reader who is not logically perspicacious, as arguments that use them are only warranted under certain conditions. The extent to which members of the public are able to determine what those conditions are will be considered by examining data obtained from 879 subjects. The role of “no evidence” statements as cognitive heuristics in public health reasoning is considered.

scholarly journals The influence of risk perceptions on close contact frequency during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wambua ◽  
Lisa Hermans ◽  
Pietro Coletti ◽  
Frederik Verelst ◽  
Lander Willem ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Perceived Severity ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Contact Behaviour ◽  
Contact Frequency ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Human behaviour is known to be crucial in the propagation of infectious diseases through respiratory or close-contact routes like the current SARS-CoV-2 virus. Intervention measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus mainly aim at limiting the number of close contacts, until vaccine roll-out is complete. Our main objective was to assess the relationships between SARS-CoV-2 perceptions and social contact behaviour in Belgium. Understanding these relationships is crucial to maximize interventions' effectiveness, e.g. by tailoring public health communication campaigns. In this study, we surveyed a representative sample of adults in Belgium in two longitudinal surveys (8 waves of survey 1 in April 2020 to August 2020, and 11 waves of survey 2 in November 2020 to April 2021). Generalized linear mixed effects models were used to analyse the two surveys. Participants with low and neutral perceptions on perceived severity made a significantly higher number of social contacts as compared to participants with high levels of perceived severity after controlling for other variables. Furthermore, participants with higher levels of perceived effectiveness of measures and perceived adherence to measures made fewer contacts. However, the differences were small. Our results highlight the key role of perceived severity on social contact behaviour during a pandemic. Nevertheless, additional research is required to investigate the impact of public health communication on severity of COVID-19 in terms of changes in social contact behaviour.

scholarly journals De tsunamis, olas, quijotes y KOvid-19. Una disección metafórica de la pandemia a través de las viñetas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Filardo-Llamas
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Communication Frameworks ◽  
Political Actions

Several studies have shown evidence for the significant role that metaphors play in public health communication. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered not only the use of common communication frameworks such as war metaphors, but also the creative use of metaphors, which is particularly relevant in the case of cartoonists. This article presents a review of the different metaphors used in cartoons (both in Spanish and in English), with the aim of compiling different metaphorical uses and reflecting upon the evaluative function of metaphors and how they contribute to expressing different visions of reality. The examples collected here show not only how certain social and political actions are legitimised or discredited, but also how these uses often appeal to particular contextual knowledge.

A Review of Theoretical, Conceptual, and Methodological Issues in Public Health Communication

2017 ◽  
pp. 194-216
Author(s):  
Thanny Noeem Taiwo ◽  
Oyewo Oyeyinka Olusola
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Maternal Mortality ◽  
Child Survival ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

This chapter attempts a review of the dominant issues relating to theoretical, conceptual and methodological directions in public health communication discourse. Through a combination of descriptive and meta-analytical reviews, the chapter analyses evidences from past studies in the field of public health communication with the aim of summarizing findings in order to find a clear path for future direction of research in this area. There is, therefore, efforts in the chapter at reviewing the major theoretical foundations that have driven scholarly discussions in this field from individual to interpersonal, community and institutional perspectives. The chapter also discusses wide raging conceptual issues relating to reproductive health, maternal mortality, child survival, mental health, infectious diseases as well as accident, trauma and emergency. Diverse methods used in studying public health communication were also reviewed in the chapter.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games for Health Communication in Brazil

2013 ◽  
pp. 294-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Simão de Vasconcellos ◽  
Inesita Soares de Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Communication Space ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Area Of Concern

Video games’ potential for gathering interest from children and adults originated many serious games to communicate, inform, teach, and train. MMORPGs may have even more potential, since they create a shared communication space where players can interact with each other. In Brazil, public Health Communication is a major area of concern, since there is a large population who needs information about health. Much of the communication initiatives come from dated models and are too normative, unable to attend population adequately. This chapter presents first reflections about the main advantages of applying MMORPGs for public Health Communication, using Mediations Theory as a starting point to look into these games’ characteristics. This perspective reveals that, in addition to engagement created by their interactive nature, MMORPGs’ social characteristics are particularly useful for building Brazilian Health Communication current aspirations: creating instances for hearing population, granting them active voice and enhancing their participation in developing public health policies.

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