Hot Topic: A Systematic Review and Content Analysis of Heat-Related Messages During the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada

Abstract

Context: During the summer of 2021, western Canada experienced a deadly heat event. From the first heat alert to postevent reporting, thousands of media articles were published that reference the heat event. However, a gap remains in understanding how this communication chain—from the release of a public heat alert to information shared through media outlets to the public—currently operates to disseminate heat-related messaging across Canada. Objective: To understand the role of digital media in delivering heat-health messaging during an extreme heat event in Canada. Design: A qualitative content analysis was conducted using Canadian news articles published on the 2021 Heat Dome between June 2021 and February 2022 (n = 2909). The coding frame was designed to align with the basic framework for information gathering used in journalism (who, what, where, when, and how) and included both concept-driven and data-driven codes. Results: Overall, 2909 unique media articles discussing the 2021 Heat Dome were identified, with the majority (74%) published by online news agencies (how). The highest article count was on June 29, 2021 (n = 159), representing 5% of the total data set (n = 2909) spanning 260 days (when); 57% of the identified locations were in British Columbia (where). Although we found that the top voices providing media-based heat-health messages are government officials (who), only 23% of articles included heat-health messaging that aligns with the government health alert bulletins released during extreme heat. In addition, heat-health messaging frequently included contradictory content, inconsistent language, or incorrect advice (what). Conclusion: The findings demonstrate clear opportunities to improve health communication related to extreme heat, perhaps most importantly, including updates to mass media messaging educating the public on heat-protective behaviors.

“Breaking down in tears, soaked in sweat, and sick from the heat”: Media‐based composite narratives of first responders working during the 2021 Heat Dome

“…This project draws on a subset of data collected for an extensive media-based analysis of the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada. 19…”

“…Recently, authors engaged in multiple disciplines have used media articles published during EHEs to investigate various impacts. [19][20][21][22][23][24] However, this data source has yet to be used to consider the impact on first responders but offers the potential to highlight public awareness and discourse related to occupational heat stress and firsthand accounts from first responders who experience excessive physical and psychological stress while working in hot environments. Nevertheless, due to the wide breadth of publications, this type of data source can result in a considerably large data set and thus may make it challenging to see the full scope of the situation.…”

“Death Is a Possibility for Those without Shelter”: A Thematic Analysis of News Coverage on Homelessness and the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada

“…This study is part of a larger research project that examines the portrayal and communication of health risks and impacts associated with the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada within online news articles [44]. In the context of this investigation, online news refers to any form of web-based media that delivered text-based content to the public digitally (except for social media), such as newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, and television transcripts produced by news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, and news channels.…”

“…The resulting dataset included 274 articles (9% of the larger dataset) (Figure 1). [44] and this secondary analysis, which focuses on people experiencing homelessness during the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada. Note: 'n' denotes the number of articles, and 'references' is the number of excerpts from the articles related to the theme.…”

“…and F.M.) initially familiarized themselves with the data during the coding of the larger project [44]; however, they then re-immersed via repeated active reading (i.e., reading while searching for meanings and patterns) of the smaller subset of articles (n = 274) of interest to this inquiry. Once we felt we had a strong comprehension of the breadth of the dataset, E.J.T.…”