An IDEA Model Analysis of Instructional Risk Communication in the Time of Ebola

Abstract

The Ebola outbreak and its rapid spread throughout West Africa and other countries was a megacrisis that imposed numerous challenges to those communicating to nonscientific publics about the epidemic. This article examines the instructional risk messages offered in the days that followed the 2014 infection and death of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas, Texas. More specifically, we apply the IDEA model for effective instructional risk and crisis communication embellished by exemplification theory to conduct a thematic analysis of messages offered locally (Dallas news stories and press releases), nationally (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Live Chat Twitter posts), and internationally (website content from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Doctors Without Borders). Our conclusions reveal that the majority of messages offered from each organization privileged the element of explanation over internalization and action as well as negative over positive exemplification. On the basis of these conclusions, and informed by previous research, we propose a number of potential implications and recommendations for offering a balanced representation among internalization, explanation, and action as proposed in the IDEA model. We also suggest that positive exemplification could be used strategically to motivate receivers to attend to these messages (internalization), reduce potential misunderstandings (explanation), and take appropriate self-protective actions (action). Agency spokespersons and media reporters may find the conclusions and recommendations drawn from this analysis to be useful when crafting similar instructional risk preparedness and crisis response messages.

Toward a global understanding of the effects of the IDEA model for designing instructional risk and crisis messages: A food contamination experiment in Sweden

“…Spokespersons can use this model as a template for designing messages throughout the stages of a risk and crisis event. Previous research confirms repeatedly that status quo messages designed according to industry standards tend to favour scientific explanation and detailed descriptive information at the expense of material intended to help the audience internalize the risk and take specific self‐protective actions (Frisby et al., ; Sellnow & Sellnow, in press; Sellnow‐Richmond et al., ). The IDEA model is a tool spokespersons can use to avoid such oversights when designing instructional risk and crisis messages.…”

“…At last, the IDEA model has been used to design messages in a variety of risk and crisis events including natural disasters, health pandemics, agricultural biotechnology, animal diseases and biosecurity, and food contaminations (Sellnow & Sellnow; ; in press). In essence, the IDEA model addresses a critical need in risk and crisis communication by extending experiential learning theory in ways that establish its utility in instruction beyond classroom contexts (Sellnow, Limperos et al., ), as well as expanding existing crisis communication and disaster warning literature to include a variety of risk and crisis situations that may have unprecedented risks (Sellnow, Sellnow, Helsel, Martin, & Parker, ; Sellnow, Iverson et al., ; Sellnow, Lane et al., ; Sellnow, Parker et al., ; Sellnow‐Richmond, George, & Sellnow, ). The following paragraphs explain each aspect of the IDEA model more fully using examples from previous research.…”

“…Another is to highlight potential impact of both the situation and of heeding (or not heeding) prescribed instructions (Lachlan & Spence, ). For example, in the case of a health pandemic like Zika or Ebola, people need to know what is likely to happen to them if they become infected (Reynolds, ; Sellnow‐Richmond et al., ). Receivers might also be compelled to internalize a message when it clarifies geographic proximity (Spence et al., ) or timeliness—that is, how much time they have to respond (Sellnow et al., ).…”

“…For example, a content of analysis of 566 television news stories delivered during the height of the 2010 egg recall in the United States revealed that only two per cent of them instructed viewers about what to do if they ate the tainted eggs (Frisby et al., ). Likewise, an examination of news reports and press releases published after confirmation of the first Ebola case in Dallas, Texas revealed that only six per cent of them offered specific action steps (Sellnow‐Richmond et al., ).…”

Strategic Message Convergence in Communicating Biosecurity: The Case of the 2013 Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

“…Message convergence for crisis communicators is both a priority and a persistent challenge across crisis types. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) struggled to maintain a consistent message during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa (Gesser-Edelsburg, Shir-Raz, Hayek, & Lev, 2015;Sellnow-Richmond, George, & Sellnow, 2018). Similarly, practitioners struggled to advise residents during the dangerous 1997 Red River Valley floods due to difficulties computing readings from multiple rain gauges (Sellnow & Seeger, 2001).…”