Inclusive Communication to Influence Behaviour Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining Intersecting Vulnerabilities

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying “infodemic” lend new urgency to the study and practice of risk communicationCommunication during COVID-19. Especially prior to the distribution of vaccines in early 2021, our primary means of responding to the pandemic has been to communicate accurate information about risks and protective actions to the public. It is particularly crucial to effectively communicate such information to vulnerable groupsVulnerable groups, which is to say those that are especially susceptible to harm: this includes persons with underlying health conditions or disabilities, elderly people, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, and ethnic and linguistic minorities, among others. This task, however, is complicated by the facts that these groups are often difficult for risk communicators to reach and sometimes vulnerable to disinformation as well as to disease. After highlighting the role of risk communication in COVID-19 governance, this chapter examines the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM)Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) as an appropriate tool for assessing the impact of individual- and group-level vulnerabilities on information channel access and preference, perceptions of threats, and assessments of risks and protective behaviours. Particular attention is given to the way vulnerabilities intersect to aggravate both negative health outcomes and information deficitsInformation deficits. The chapter closes by advocating empirically-grounded risk communication strategies that take social complexity and the lived experiences of vulnerable groupsVulnerable groups into clear and intentional account.