Risk communication and COVID-19 in Europe: lessons for future public health crises

Warren, George W.; Löfstedt, Ragnar E.

doi:10.1080/13669877.2021.1947874

Cited by 44 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…These strategies should address the psychosocial factors this study identified as strongly relating to PHSM adherence — including trust in authorities and health institutions and risk perception — and must include frequent, transparent and multidirectional communication with justification for the introduction of different PHSMs using timely, accurate data. Identifying trusted messengers, such as community-based health workers and other community leaders, and engaging communities through these messengers, has emerged as a particularly effective strategy for building trust in public health guidance and institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic 38–41…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial determinants of adherence to public health and social measures (PHSMs) in 18 African Union Member States during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a cross-sectional survey

Murukutla

Gupta²,

Maharjan³

et al. 2022

BMJ Open

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ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of the psychosocial and sociodemographic factors that affected adherence to COVID-19 public health and social measures (PHSMs), and to identify the factors that most strongly related to whether citizens followed public health guidance.DesignCross-sectional study.Setting and participantsNationally representative telephone surveys were conducted from 4–17 August 2020 in 18 African Union Member States. A total of 21 600 adults (mean age=32.7 years, SD=11.4) were interviewed (1200 in each country).Outcome measuresInformation including sociodemographics, adherence to PHSMs and psychosocial variables was collected. Logistic regression models examined the association between PHSM adherence (eg, physical distancing, gathering restrictions) and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics (eg, risk perception, trust). Factors affecting adherence were ranked using the Shapley regression decomposition method.ResultsAdherence to PHSMs was high, with better adherence to personal than community PHSMs (65.5% vs 30.2%, p<0.05). Psychosocial measures were significantly associated with personal and community PHSMs (p<0.05). Women and older adults demonstrated better adherence to personal PHSMs (adjusted OR (aOR): women=1.43, age=1.01, p<0.05) and community PHSMs (aOR: women=1.57, age=1.01, p<0.05). Secondary education was associated with better adherence only to personal PHSMs (aOR=1.22, p<0.05). Rural residence and access to running water were associated with better adherence to community PHSMs (aOR=1.12 and 1.18, respectively, p<0.05). The factors that most affected adherence to personal PHSMs were: self-efficacy; trust in hospitals/health centres; knowledge about face masks; trust in the president; and gender. For community PHSMs they were: gender; trust in the president; access to running water; trust in hospitals/health centres; and risk perception.ConclusionsPsychosocial factors, particularly trust in authorities and institutions, played a critical role in PHSM adherence. Adherence to community PHSMs was lower than personal PHSMs since they can impose significant burdens, particularly on the socially vulnerable.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial determinants of adherence to public health and social measures (PHSMs) in 18 African Union Member States during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a cross-sectional survey

Murukutla

Gupta²,

Maharjan³

et al. 2022

BMJ Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Trust becomes important regarding whom to believe. Information from the scientific community is therefore mediated by trust, and trust becomes crucial for the publics' reception and acceptance (Siegrist and Zingg, 2014;Warren and Lofstedt, 2021). If the scientific community recommend vaccination, and people generally believe that those who make up the scientific community are competent and objective, more people will get vaccinated, and the death rates go down.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Warren and Lofstedt (2021) emphasize, peoples' risk perceptions are shaped by government communication strategies. Understanding what affects people's risk perception is therefore critical when the government formulate their communication strategy.…”

Section: Trust Risk Governance and Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Too much focus on those who do not comply with the measures can be counterproductive since it easily crowds out people's motivation to make personal sacrifices for the greater benefit of society. Avoiding a "us vs. them" mindset is important for building social trust and creating the necessary collective effort needed to combat a pandemic (Warren and Lofstedt, 2021).…”

Section: Trust Risk Governance and Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trust: A Double-Edged Sword in Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic?

et al. 2022

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We examine the impact of trust in combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that can cause COVID-19. Under normal circumstances trust is a crucial component for society to function well, but during a pandemic trust can become a double-edged sword. On the one hand, a high level of trust in society may lead to greater acceptance among citizens for public measures that aim to combat a virus. If people believe that their respective governments implement unbiased and well-informed measures, and people also believe that their fellow citizens will follow these measures, this may lead to a high general compliance in society and less people will be infected. On the other hand, trust may affect people's perception of risk and hence their behavior. If people believe that most people are trustworthy, they may be less willing to think of everyone else as a potential health threat. If people also trust the government to manage the pandemic in a competent way, their perception of the risks related to the pandemic weaken. Taken together, this may lead people in high trust societies to consider personal protective measures less important, and more people will be infected. The ambiguous effect trust may have on the outcome of a pandemic calls for a closer empirical analysis. Drawing on data from 127 countries we find that the number COVID-19 deaths decrease with trust in government and trust in science, while the number COVID-19 deaths increase with social trust. Implications of these findings for risk communication and management during a pandemic are discussed.

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“…Other research findings suggest that risk perception and trust in science strongly influence adherence to COVID-19 guidelines (Plohl and Musil, 2021). It is important for experts to deliver credible messages in a crisis, but this has not worked well in the UK and France (Warren and Lofstedt, 2021). The relationship between government and experts is also complex.…”

Section: Literature Review Covid-and Trust In Government Science and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Support and trust in the government and COVID-19 experts during the pandemic

Yokoyama

Ikkatai

2022

Front. Commun.

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Support in government and trust in COVID-19 experts are important for pandemic preparedness. Based on the salient value similarity (SVS) model, which holds that “salient values” are important for trust in risk management, we measured ruling and opposition party supporters' support and trust in the government and COVID-19 experts. Comparing the results from 2020 to 2022, supporters of the ruling party maintained their support for the government, while supporters of the opposition party changed from disapproval to support. Trust in experts was higher among ruling party supporters and lower among opposition party supporters. Trust in university researchers did not differ between the ruling and opposition parties. This reveals that it is possible for a government to gain support from opposition party supporters and that achieving trust in experts who advise the government is more difficult than fostering trust in ordinary scientists.

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Risk communication and COVID-19 in Europe: lessons for future public health crises

Cited by 44 publications

References 105 publications

Psychosocial determinants of adherence to public health and social measures (PHSMs) in 18 African Union Member States during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a cross-sectional survey

Psychosocial determinants of adherence to public health and social measures (PHSMs) in 18 African Union Member States during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a cross-sectional survey

Trust: A Double-Edged Sword in Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Support and trust in the government and COVID-19 experts during the pandemic

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