scholarly journals Innovations in communication: the Internet and the psychology of vaccination decisions

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Betsch
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Based Medicine

This paper provides a psychological perspective on the possible effect of the Internet on the decision against vaccination. The reported importance of the Internet in health decisions is still low, but rising; especially the amount of interactive use of the Internet is increasing, e.g. due to the use of social media. It is argued that the fact that individuals do not report the Internet to be an important source of information does not necessarily mean that the information obtained in their Internet searches is not influential in their decisions. Evidence is summarised here regarding the (anti-)vaccination information on the Internet, and its influence on risk perceptions and on vaccination intentions and behaviour in relation to the encoded information. The conclusion suggests that scholars should strive to explain the underlying processes and potential mediators of vaccination decisions to increase the effectiveness of health communication. In reference to a definition of evidence-based medicine, a great future challenge lies in evidence-based public health communication based on interdisciplinary research involving public health, medical research, communication science and psychology.

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 Spreading (Dis)Trust: Covid-19 Misinformation and Government Intervention in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Lovari
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
General State ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Impact

The commentary focuses on the spread of Covid-19 misinformation in Italy, highlighting the dynamics that have impacted on its pandemic communication. Italy has recently been affected by a progressive erosion of trust in public institutions and a general state of information crisis regarding matters of health and science. In this context, the politicization of health issues and a growing use of social media to confront the Coronavirus “infodemic” have led the Italian Ministry of Health to play a strategic role in using its official Facebook page to mitigate the spread of misinformation and to offer updates to online publics. Despite this prompt intervention, which increased the visibility and reliability of public health communication, coordinated efforts involving different institutions, media and digital platform companies still seem necessary to reduce the impact of misinformation, as using a multichannel strategy helps avoid increasing social and technological disparities at a time of crisis.

Essential Dental Public Health

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blánaid Daly ◽  
Paul Batchelor ◽  
Elizabeth Treasure ◽  
Richard Watt
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Dental Public Health ◽  
Oral Health Promotion ◽  
Dental Practitioners ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Based Medicine

Public health is a key concern of modern dental practitioners as they continue to play a vital role in the health of populations across the world. The second edition of Essential Dental Public Health identifies the links between clinical practice and public health with a strong emphasis on evidence-based medicine. Fully revised and updated for a second edition, this textbook is split into four parts covering all the need-to-know aspects of the subject: the principles of dental public health, oral epidemiology, prevention and oral health promotion, and the governance and organization of health services. Essential Dental Public Health is an ideal introduction to the field for dentistry undergraduates, as well as being a helpful reference for postgraduates and practitioners.

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.

Evidence-Based Decision-Making (Part 1): Origins and Evolution in the Health Sciences

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Bradt
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Evidence Based Medicine ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Clinical Expertise ◽  
Strength Of Evidence ◽  
Based Medicine ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

AbstractEvidence is defined as data on which a judgment or conclusion may be based. In the early 1990s, medical clinicians pioneered evidence-based decision-making. The discipline emerged as the use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine required the integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available, external clinical evidence from systematic research and the patient's unique values and circumstances. In this context, evidence acquired a hierarchy of strength based upon the method of data acquisition.Subsequently, evidence-based decision-making expanded throughout the allied health field. In public health, and particularly for populations in crisis, three major data-gathering tools now dominate: (1) rapid health assessments; (2) population based surveys; and (3) disease surveillance. Unfortunately, the strength of evidence obtained by these tools is not easily measured by the grading scales of evidence-based medicine. This is complicated by the many purposes for which evidence can be applied in public health—strategic decision-making, program implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Different applications have different requirements for strength of evidence as well as different time frames for decision-making. Given the challenges of integrating data from multiple sources that are collected by different methods, public health experts have defined best available evidence as the use of all available sources used to provide relevant inputs for decision-making.

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