scholarly journals Comprehending and Acting on Pandemic Health Risk Information Differently: A Qualitative Study Using the Mental Models’ Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siv Hilde Berg ◽  
Marie Therese Shortt ◽  
Henriette Thune ◽  
Jo Røislien ◽  
Jane K. O’Hara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Geographical Regions

Abstract BackgroundA worldwide pandemic of a new and unknown virus is characterised by scientific uncertainty. Yet, health authorities still need to communicate complex health risk information to the public – despite this uncertainty. The mental models approach to risk communication describes how people perceive and make decisions regarding complex risks, with the aim of identifying decision-relevant information that can be targeted in risk communication interventions. This study used COVID-19 as a case to explore how people make sense of scientific information and apply it to their lives and behaviour using the concept of mental models.MethodsThis qualitative study included 15 male and female participants of different ages and from different geographical regions in Norway, occupational areas and with different education levels. The participants were interviewed individually, and the interview data analysed via directed content analysis, with predetermined themes and codes derived the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s official website. Materials in the interview data not represented by deductive codes were coded inductively. The participants’ perceptions and behaviours related to health risk information were analysed across three themes: virus transmission, exposure to risk and consequences of COVID-19. ResultsThe results imply that people put different meanings to the medical and scientific words used by experts to explain the pandemic, e.g. virus transmission and the reproduction number. And while some people expressed the need to comprehend why certain behavior and activities involve a high risk, others preferred simple, clear messages focusing on what to do and how to protect themselves. Similarly, information about health consequences caused panic for some and awareness for others. ConclusionThere is no one-size fits all to public health risk communication, and empowering people with decision-relevant information necessitates targeted and balanced risk communication.

scholarly journals Users’ perceptions about receiving personalized depression risk information: findings from a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Eccles ◽  
Doaa Nadouri ◽  
Molly Nannarone ◽  
Bonnie Lashewicz ◽  
Norbert Schmitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Risk Score ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Depression Risk ◽  
Communication Program ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objectives To understand users’ perceptions about receiving their personalized depression risk score and to gain an understanding about how to improve the efficiency of risk communication from the user perspective. Methods A qualitative study embedded in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on evaluating the impact of providing personalized depression risk information on psychological harms and benefits. The participants (20 males and 20 females) were randomly selected from the intervention arm of the RCT after the 12-month assessment. The qualitative interviews were conducted through telephone, audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. We conducted a content analysis to describe the content and contextual meaning of data collected from participants. Results The first theme explained the motivation for receiving a risk score. Most participants chose to receive their personalised depression risk score with the goal of improving their self-awareness. The results revealed three sub-themes surrounding perceptions and implication of receiving their risk score: positive, negative, and neutral. Most participants found that receiving their score was positive because it improved their awareness of their mental health, but some participants could see that some people would have negative feelings when getting the score causing them to be more likely to get depression. The final theme focussed on improvements including: the best delivery methods, having resources and strategies, and targeting younger people. Conclusion The most significant motivation for, and benefit of receiving one’s personalized depression risk score was improved awareness of one’s mental health. A comprehensive risk communication program may improve the uptake and maximize the impact on behavior changes and risk reduction.

Absent Information in Integrative Environmental and Health Risk Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Lyytimäki ◽  
Timo Assmuth
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Lack Of Information

Communication is typically understood in terms of what is communicated. However, the importance of what is intentionally or unintentionally left out from the communication process is high in many fields, notably in communication about environmental and health risks. The question is not only about the absolute lack of information. The rapidly increasing amount and variability of available data require actors to identify, collect, and interpret relevant information and screen out irrelevant or misleading messages that may lead to unjustified scares or hopes and other unwanted consequences. The ideal of balanced, integrative, and careful risk communication can only rarely be seen in real-life risk communication, shaped by competition and interaction between actors emphasizing some risks, downplaying others, and leaving many kinds of information aside, as well as by personal factors such as emotions and values, prompting different types of responses. Consequently, risk communication is strongly influenced by the characteristics of the risks themselves, the kinds of knowledge on them and related uncertainties, and the psychological and sociocultural factors shaping the cognitive and emotive responses of those engaged in communication. The physical, economic, and cultural contexts also play a large role. The various roles and factors of absent information in integrative environmental and health risk communication are illustrated by two examples. First, health and environmental risks from chemicals represent an intensively studied and widely debated field that involves many types of absent information, ranging from purposeful nondisclosure aimed to guarantee public safety or commercial interests to genuinely unknown risks caused by long-term and cumulative effects of multiple chemicals. Second, light pollution represents an emerging environmental and health issue that has gained only limited public attention even though it is associated with a radical global environmental change that is very easy to observe. In both cases, integrative communication essentially involves a multidimensional comparison of risks, including the uncertainties and benefits associated with them, and the options available to reduce or avoid them. Public debate and reflection on the adequacy of risk information and on the needs and opportunities to gain and apply relevant information is a key issue of risk management. The notion of absent information underlines that even the most widely debated risk issues may fall into oblivion and re-emerge in an altered form or under different framings. A typology of types of absent information based on frameworks of risk communication can help one recognize its reasons, implications, and remediation.

scholarly journals “I Just Want Some Clear Answers”: Challenges and Tactics Adopted by Migrants in Denmark When Accessing Health Risk Information about COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 8932
Author(s):  
Rasmus Luca Lyager Brønholt ◽  
Nina Langer Langer Primdahl ◽  
Anja M. B. Jensen ◽  
An Verelst ◽  
Ilse Derluyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Access Information ◽  
National Governments

Health risk communication plays a crucial role in preventing the spread of infectious disease outbreaks such as the current coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Yet, migrants are far too often forgotten in health risk communication responses. We investigate the challenges and efforts made by migrants in Denmark—in the initial months of the pandemic—to access information about COVID-19. We draw on 18 semi-structured interviews conducted in May and June 2020. All interviews are thematically coded and analyzed. Our analysis reveals that many of the migrants faced several challenges, including accessing information in a language understandable to them and navigating constant streams of official news flows issuing instructions about which actions to take. However, we also note that the participating migrants found numerous creative ways to address some of these challenges, often aided by digital tools, helping them access crucial health and risk information. This paper highlights that migrants constitute an underserved group in times of crises. They are vulnerable to getting left behind in pandemic communication responses. However, we also identify key protective factors, social resources, and agentic capabilities, which help them cope with health and risk information deficits. National governments need to take heed of these findings to inform future pandemic responses.

The effects of advertising skepticism in consumer prescription drug advertising

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilwoo Ju
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Risk Disclosure ◽  
Drug Advertising ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Prescription Drug Advertising ◽  
Advertising Evaluation

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of consumers’ prescription drug advertising (DTCA) skepticism on their advertising evaluation. In addition, the study investigates the moderating role of health risk information location in DTCA and the mediating role of perceived message effectiveness to address when and how the skepticism effects are maximized or minimized. Design/methodology/approach The study used a controlled lab experiment to enhance internal validity. Findings This study found that when risk information was presented earlier in a more prominent manner, it appeared to reduce the DTCA skepticism effects. In contrast, the DTCA skepticism effects remained considerable when benefit information was presented earlier. Research limitations/implications The artificial nature of the controlled lab setting suggests conducting future research in a more natural setting using various therapeutic and product categories to enhance ecological and external validity. Practical implications Pharmaceutical marketers could reduce consumers’ DTCA skepticism effects on their advertising evaluation by using situational message strategies. The prominence of health risk disclosure could be one of such strategies. Social implications The FDA’s industry guidance for DTCA risk communication suggests that the location of risk information in the ad may play an important role in determining its prominence. However, little is known about how complying with the FDA’s risk communication guidance by presenting a more prominent risk disclosure can affect consumers’ ad evaluation by affecting the DTCA skepticism effects. The current study provides empirical evidence for the importance of the health risk disclosure prominence. Originality/value Because the FDA’s release of the DTCA risk communication guidance, little empirical research has been conducted to examine a wide range of situational message factors that may affect consumers’ response to DTCA risk communication. The current study filled the gap in the literature by addressing the interplay between consumer and message factors in the DTCA context.

PRACTICES AND ALGORITHM OF INFORMING OF CONSUMERS ABOUT HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ANTIBIOTICS RESIDUES IN FOOD

2018 ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
A.O. Barg
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Social Networking Services ◽  
Communication Problems ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
Antibiotics Residues

The practices of risk communication on the problem of residues of antibiotics in foodstuffs in modern Russia are described based on the results of in-depth expert interviews. Several risk communication problems connected with the lack of relevant information about the theme, low efficiency of traditional information channels, and insufficient activity of key informants have been identified. The algorithm and basic principles of risk communication between authorities, food producers and consumers are proposed. It is proved that using of social media, social networking services and «new opinion leaders» (such as bloggers) can increase the effectiveness of health risks communication in modern society.

scholarly journals A Mental Models Study of Hurricane Forecast and Warning Production, Communication, and Decision-Making*

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Bostrom ◽  
Rebecca E. Morss ◽  
Jeffrey K. Lazo ◽  
Julie L. Demuth ◽  
Heather Lazrus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Action Context ◽  
Risk Decision

Abstract The study reported here explores how to enhance the public value of hurricane forecast and warning information by examining the entire warning process. A mental models research approach is applied to address three risk management tasks critical to warnings for extreme weather events: 1) understanding the risk decision and action context for hurricane warnings, 2) understanding the commonalities and conflicts in interpretations of that context and associated risks, and 3) exploring the practical implications of these insights for hurricane risk communication and management. To understand the risk decision and action context, the study develops a decision-focused model of the hurricane forecast and warning system on the basis of results from individual mental models interviews with forecasters from the National Hurricane Center (n = 4) and the Miami–South Florida Weather Forecast Office (n = 4), media broadcasters (n = 5), and public officials (n = 6), as well as a group decision-modeling session with a subset of the forecasters. Comparisons across professionals reveal numerous shared perceptions, as well as some critical differences. Implications for improving extreme weather event forecast and warning systems and risk communication are threefold: 1) promote thinking about forecast and warning decisions as a system, with informal as well as formal elements; 2) evaluate, coordinate, and consider controlling the proliferation of forecast and warning information products; and 3) further examine the interpretation and representation of uncertainty within the hurricane forecast and warning system as well as for users.

“Red” and “green” flags of risk disclosures – identifying associations between positive and negative key phrases and consecutive cumulative abnormal stock returns

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Yvonne Nagel ◽  
Stephan Fuhrmann ◽  
Thomas W. Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Abnormal Stock Returns ◽  
Key Phrases ◽  
Risk Disclosures ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose The usefulness of risk disclosures (RDs) to support equity investors’ investment decisions is highly discussed. As prior research criticizes the extensive aggregation of risk information in existing empirical research, this paper aims to provide an attempt to identify disaggregated risk information associated with cumulative abnormal stock returns (CARs). Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 2,558 RDs of companies listed in the S&P 500 index. The RDs were filed within 10 K filings between 2011 and 2017. First, this study automatically extracted 35,685 key phrases that occurred in a maximum of 1.5% of the RDs. Second, this study performed stepwise regressions of these key phrases and identified 67 (78) key phrases that show positive (negative) associations with CARs. Findings The paper finds that investors seem to value most the more common key phrases just below the 1.5% rarest key phrase threshold and business-related key phrases from RDs. Furthermore, investors seem to perceive key phrases that contain words indicating uncertainty (impacts) as a negative (positive) rather than a positive (negative) signal. Research limitations/implications The research approach faces limitations mainly due to the selection of the included key phrases, the focus on CARs and the methodological choice of the stepwise regression analysis. Originality/value The study reveals the potential for companies to increase the information value of their RDs for equity investors by providing tailored information within RDs instead of universal phrases. In addition, the research indicates that the tailored RDs encouraged by the SEC contain relevant information for investors. Furthermore, the results may guide the attention of equity investors to relevant text passages whose deeper analysis might be useful with regard to investors’ capital market decisions.

scholarly journals Using Stories to Communicate Individual Risk for Opioid Prescriptions: Study Protocol for the Life STORRIED Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary F Meisel ◽  
Esha Bansal ◽  
Marilyn M Schapira ◽  
Jeanmarie Perrone ◽  
Carolyn C Cannuscio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Randomized Clinical Trial ◽  
Acute Care ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Information Sheet ◽  
Health Crisis

Abstract Background: Prescription opioid abuse in the United States is a devastating public health crisis, of which many chronic opioid users were originally prescribed the medication for acute pain. Narrative enhanced risk communication may improve patient outcomes such as knowledge of opioid risk and opioid use behaviors in the setting of acute pain. Methods & Design: Patients presenting to the acute care facilities of four geographically and ethnically diverse United States hospital centers with renal colic or musculoskeletal back pain will be eligible for this multicenter randomized clinical trial. A control group of patients receiving a standardized, general risk information sheet will be compared to two intervention groups, one receiving the risk information sheet plus a probabilistic opioid risk tool and another receiving the risk information sheet plus a narrative enhanced probabilistic opioid risk tool. We will study the effect of probabilistic and narrative enhanced opioid risk communication on: 1) knowledge as measured by risk awareness and treatment preferences for fewer opioids; 2) reduced use of opioids as measured by quantity of opioids taken, functional improvement, and repeat use of unscheduled visits for pain; 3) patient-provider alignment as measured by concordance between patient preference and finalized prescription plan and the presence of shared decision making. To assess these outcomes, we will administer baseline patient surveys during acute care admission and follow-up surveys at predetermined times during the ninety days after discharge. Discussion: This study seeks to assess the potential clinical role of narrative enhanced, risk-informed communication for acute pain management in acute care settings. This paper outlines the protocol used to implement the study and highlights crucial methodological, statistical, stakeholder involvement, and dissemination considerations.

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