COVID-19 Messaging Research Articles

Representations of Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to COVID-19 in the Zambian media

Despite the growing visibility of religious women’s responses to COVID-19 in the media, the discourses of religion and the pandemic in emerging scholarship were preoccupied with the responses of churches to COVID-19, and neglected the contributions of religious women to the pandemic in Zambia. This article, therefore, explores the interface between religion and COVID-19 through the representations of the responses of Roman Catholic religious sisters to the pandemic, in the media in Zambia, from a religious health asset (RHA) perspective. The study drew on two objectives, namely, to describe the representations of Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to COVID-19 in the media; and to explain the nature of the Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to the pandemic as represented in the media with a focus on the utilisation of RHAs. It drew on an interpretive case study in which data were collected through content analysis. It shows that the responses of the religious sisters were covered more in Catholic related media. These responses ranged from providing key COVID-19 messages, integrating COVID-19 in the existing programmes to providing basic equipment and food to the needy communities as shaped by the utilisation of RHAs at their disposal, and as informed by their prophetic mission. The article argues that the Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to the pandemic affirmed women’s active roles in combating the pandemic. Contribution: The article’s contribution lies in adding the narratives of women’s contributions to the pandemic in the early stages of the outbreak of COVID-19 to women theologies scholarship in Africa. And also, extending the utilisation of RHAs to the new pandemic and the implications it draws on the need for engendering religious responses to the pandemic by capturing women’s narratives during a pandemic as part of constructing women theologies in the face of COVID-19.

CommunityFirst solutions for COVID-19: decolonising health crises responses

CommunityFirst solutions for COVID-19: decolonising health crises responses

Effect of Physician-Delivered COVID-19 Public Health Messages and Messages Acknowledging Racial Inequity on Black and White Adults’ Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices Related to COVID-19

Social distancing is critical to the control of COVID-19, which has disproportionately affected the Black community. Physician-delivered messages may increase adherence to these behaviors. To determine whether messages delivered by physicians improve COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors and to assess the differential effectiveness of messages tailored to the Black community. This randomized clinical trial of self-identified White and Black adults with less than a college education was conducted from August 7 to September 6, 2020. Of 44 743 volunteers screened, 30 174 were eligible, 5534 did not consent or failed attention checks, and 4163 left the survey before randomization. The final sample had 20 460 individuals (participation rate, 68%). Participants were randomly assigned to receive video messages on COVID-19 or other health topics. Participants saw video messages delivered either by a Black or a White study physician. In the control groups, participants saw 3 placebo videos with generic health topics. In the treatment group, they saw 3 videos on COVID-19, recorded by several physicians of varied age, gender, and race. Video 1 discussed common symptoms. Video 2 highlighted case numbers; in one group, the unequal burden of the disease by race was discussed. Video 3 described US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social distancing guidelines. Participants in both the control and intervention groups were also randomly assigned to see 1 of 2 American Medical Association statements, one on structural racism and the other on drug price transparency. Knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to COVID-19, demand for information, willingness to pay for masks, and self-reported behavior. Overall, 18 223 participants (9168 Black; 9055 White) completed the survey (9980 [55.9%] women, mean [SD] age, 40.2 [17.8] years). Overall, 6303 Black participants (34.6%) and 7842 White participants (43.0%) were assigned to the intervention group, and 1576 Black participants (8.6%) and 1968 White participants (10.8%) were assigned to the control group. Compared with the control group, the intervention group had smaller gaps in COVID-19 knowledge (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.89 [95% CI, 0.87-0.91]) and greater demand for COVID-19 information (IRR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.01-1.11]), willingness to pay for a mask (difference, $0.50 [95% CI, $0.15-$0.85]). Self-reported safety behavior improved, although the difference was not statistically significant (IRR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.92-1.01]; P = .08). Effects did not differ by race (F = 0.0112; P > .99) or in different intervention groups (F = 0.324; P > .99). In this study, a physician messaging campaign was effective in increasing COVID-19 knowledge, information-seeking, and self-reported protective behaviors among diverse groups. Studies implemented at scale are needed to confirm clinical importance. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04502056.

Making Sense of the Pandemic: Kenyan Covid-19 Jokes and Online Liveness

The words, the phrases, and the faces of those delivering news regarding the Covid-19 pandemic from the Ministry of Health—new cases, number of deaths, number of recoveries, and efforts towards “flattening the curve”—became a routine television feature in Kenya. This drove Kenyans to adapt to an abnormal situation as the new norm. Kenyan comedians, especially Eric Omondi, built their jokes around the personalities that delivered the Covid-19 messaging and the expectations and fears of Kenyans regarding the effects of these special Covid-19 announcements. This article, in contrast to the extant literature’s treatment of ethno-centric humour, seeks to explore online jokes surrounding the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 announcements and the monthly presidential addresses, as expressed by Eric Omondi, a Kenyan comedian. The aim is to understand how Kenyans made sense of the pandemic through the creation of incongruous humour.

Public anxiety and distrust due to perceived politicization and media sensationalism during early COVID-19 media messaging

ABSTRACT Background Understanding early COVID-19 messaging is essential for improving future public health responses to pandemics. This study applied aspects of both media dependency theory and a source credibility framework to explore how COVID-19 pandemic messaging was perceived by the public within one month of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic. Methods We administered a cross-sectional, mixed methods online survey in March, 2020 to Pennsylvanian adults (N = 538) enrolled in a health network. Participants were 58% female, 56% with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher, and 50% from minority racial backgrounds. Results Thematic analysis revealed six major themes describing flawed messaging about the pandemic, with the resulting confusion, distrust, and anxiety leading to a desire for a single source of information. Distrust of both media and government arose from perceived contradictory messages, sensationalized messages, and information overload. Relationships between themes are mapped into a conceptual model, which demonstrates the destructive and cyclic relationship between the media and the public anxiety reported in our data. Conclusions Practical implications of our findings suggest that public health messaging initiatives should include solutions that seek to improve trust, source credibility and work to centralize, unify, and streamline delivery of information during a pandemic.

Predictors of Compliance to COVID-19 Containment Communications in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Enugu, and Lagos States

The difficulty in understanding new virus strains affects scientific efforts to immediately develop drugs and vaccines to stem the spread of viral diseases. As a result, social measures remain handy tools to address viral diseases. Nigeria joined the rest of the world to introduce social containment measures for the new COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines the factors predicting adherence to COVID-19 containment measures in selected Nigerian communities. It adopts multi-stage cluster sampling in a survey involving 183 respondents from two states and Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Multiple regression and descriptive statistics were used to estimate the influences of social factors (religion, family, friends), demographic characteristics (age, residential area, gender), and credibility factors (perceived trust, ease of adherence) on attitudes toward media messages and social measures on COVID-19 prevention guidelines. Results show that age, gender, marital status, type of street, education, and state of residence have significant influence on adherence to COVID-19 messages. While age and gender positively correlated with credibility assessment, type of street was negatively associated with credibility assessment of COVID-19 messages. Social factors have more predictive influence on adherence to COVID-19 messages than credibility assessment of COVID-19 messages. The study discusses the implications of relationships between demographic factors and adherence to COVID-19 messages.

Crisis Communication on Social Media: What Types of COVID-19 Messages Get the Attention?

This study assessed internet users’ attention to hospitality companies’ COVID-19 messages on social media. We used 657 Facebook and 754 Twitter messages initiated by eight of the world’s largest hotel chains between January and mid-June 2020 for the exploratory analysis. Under the situational crisis communication theory, the analysis reveals that hotels shared five types of COVID-19 ( Prevention, Reminding, Ingratiation, Victimage, and Updates) versus Non-COVID-19 messages. Descriptive analysis and a series of t test, analysis of variance, and post hoc analyses reveal that hotels did not share any COVID-19 information until March 2020. Moreover, COVID-19 messages only accounted for about 20% of all messages, among which hotels shared Ingratiation and Updates messages most often. COVID-19 messages received more reactions, comments, and shares/retweets than Non-COVID-19 messages on both Facebook and Twitter, indicating the attention paid to the COVID-19 messages posted on a business’ social media page, which can help businesses spread the information in their networks. Specifically, Prevention, Reminding (although underused), Ingratiation, Updates, and messages with photos and videos received more attention. Such findings extend the crisis communication literature and help businesses develop effective communication strategies to engage their stakeholders on social media during the pandemic.

A co-design of clinical virtual care pathways to engage and support families requiring neonatal intensive care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (COVES study)

BackgroundIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, family presence restrictions in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) were enacted to limit disease transmission. This has resulted in communication challenges, negatively impacting family integrated care. AimTo develop clinical care pathways to ensure optimal neonatal care to support families in response to parental presence restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsAn agile, co-design process utilizing expert consensus of a large interdisciplinary team and focus groups and semi-structured interviews with families and HCPs were used to co-design clinical virtual care pathways. ResultsThree clinical virtual care pathways were co-designed: (1) building and maintaining relationships between family and healthcare providers; (2) awareness of resources; and (3) standardized COVID-19 messaging. Modifications were made to optimize uptake and utilization in the clinical areas. ConclusionClinical care virtual pathways were successfully co-designed to meet these needs to ensure more equitable family centered care.

The relation between knowledge and concern: A global study of children and COVID-19.

COVID-19 messages vary around the world, and populations receive these messages in different ways. Children are a vulnerable audience, especially in terms of risk communication. As messages are being developed, communicated, and disseminated about this pandemic, it is important to know the relation between COVID-19 knowledge and concern among preadolescents. In Spring 2020, children (N= 4,249) from 8 global regions completed an online survey (Mage= 11.0, 54% female, 46% male). We assessed children's COVID-19 knowledge by asking about prevention and symptoms, as well as myths about the virus. We also assessed children's concerns by asking about worries about self and others getting sick, missing school, and interruption of activities. Our analyses revealed different relations between knowledge and concern by region. Among children from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian region, Asia, and North America, there was a positive relation between knowledge and concern. For those from Latin America, Oceania, Europe, and Southeast Asia, the relation was flat or negative. When producing messages for children during a public health crisis, health communicators must know that more knowledge is not always associated with less concern.

Fear-arousing persuasive communication and behaviour change: COVID-19 in Kenya

With the absence of immunological, pharmacological or any other known medical interventions, the change in norms, behaviour and attitude of the public remains the only possible way that may be considered for prevention and suppression of COVID-19. This disease, which has morphed into a global pandemic, has mobilized outrageous outpouring action worldwide. Despite international and local media attention coupled with overwhelming new facts replete with misinformation and disinformation on COVID-19 from many channels; including interpersonal and social media, efforts to scale up control measures have yielded mixed results. The government and Kenyan media have reported several cases in which the public and leaders flouted these measures thus putting themselves at risk of contracting or spreading the virus. The overarching question is: does fear-arousing communication really matter in behaviour change particularly during a global pandemic of the magnitude of COVID-19? This qualitative study therefore examined the effects of COVID-19 messages on health behaviour change among residents living in the Municipality of Busia, one of the towns that have recorded the highest incidences of confirmed COVID-19 cases as informed by the Extended Parallel Process and Health Belief behavioural change models. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were carried out to establish threat and coping appraisal as a result of COVID-19 messages received from different sources. The study employed a risk behaviour diagnosis assessment that focused on two components of health risk messages, that is, threat and recommended response that addresses efficacy issues. This study found out that despite universal knowledge of COVID-19 and prevention methods, perceived threat especially perceived vulnerability to the virus was low due to misinformation, disinformation and disjointed communication.

How Social Media Comments Inform the Promotion of Mask-Wearing and Other COVID-19 Prevention Strategies.

Current COVID-19 messaging efforts by public health departments are primarily informational in nature and assume that audiences will make rational choices in compliance, contradicting extensive research indicating that individuals make lifestyle choices based on emotional, social, and impulsive factors. To complement the current model, audience barriers to prevention need to be better understood. A content analysis of news source comments in response to daily COVID-19 reports was conducted in Montana, one of the states expressing resistance to routine prevention efforts. A total of 615 Facebook comments drawn from Montana news sources were analyzed using the Persuasive Health Message Framework to identify perceived barriers and benefits of mask-wearing. A majority (63%) of comments expressed barriers, the most common of which were categorized as either misinformation about the virus or conspiracy theories. Benefits (46%) of mask-wearing were articulated as benefits to loved ones or people in one’s community or saving hospital space. This paper analyzes the implications of low perceived threat accompanied by low perceived efficacy of mask-wearing to make recommendations for future prevention efforts.

Why Do Some Americans Resist COVID-19 Prevention Behavior? An Analysis of Issue Importance, Message Fatigue, and Reactance Regarding COVID-19 Messaging

ABSTRACT Despite the rapid transmission of and death toll claimed by COVID-19, there is evidence of resistance toward behaviors shown to effectively prevent and slow the spread of the disease, such as mask wearing and social distancing. This study applies psychological reactance theory to examine COVID-19 message factors (i.e., message fatigue, issue importance) that may be linked to nonadherence to CDC recommendations via the experience of reactance. Participants (N = 268) were current U.S. residents over the age of 18 who completed an online survey about their perceptions of COVID-19 messaging in general as well as toward a specific COVID-19 message they recalled. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that perceived freedom threat toward a COVID-19 message was predicted positively by message fatigue and negatively by issue importance. Greater perceived freedom threat was linked to greater reactance, which in turn was associated with lower levels of adherence to hygiene- and social-related COVID-19 preventive behavior. Notably, the negative association between reactance and social-related adherence was stronger than that between reactance and hygiene-related adherence. Implications for the role of reactance in risk and crisis communication as well as for public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Qualitative analysis of visual risk communication on twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by uncertainty and constant change, forcing governments and health authorities to ramp up risk communication efforts. Consequently, visuality and social media platforms like Twitter have come to play a vital role in disseminating prevention messages widely. Yet to date, only little is known about what characterizes visual risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this gap in the literature, this study’s objective was to determine how visual risk communication was used on Twitter to promote the World Health Organisations (WHO) recommended preventative behaviours and how this communication changed over time.MethodsWe sourced Twitter’s 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January–October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. For inclusion, tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain one of the keywords ‘covid19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘corona’, or ‘covid’. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the 616 tweets meeting inclusion criteria.ResultsOur results show communication dynamics changed over the course of the pandemic. At the start, most retweeted preventative messages came from the media and health and government institutions, but overall, personal accounts with many followers (51.3%) predominated, and their tweets had the highest spread (10.0%, i.e., retweet count divided by followers). Messages used mostly photographs and images were found to be rich with information. 78.1% of Tweets contained 1–2 preventative messages, whereby ‘stay home’ and ‘wear a mask’ frequented most. Although more tweets used health loss framing, health gain messages spread more.ConclusionOur findings can inform the didactics of future crisis communication. The results underscore the value of engaging individuals, particularly influencers, as advocates to spread health risk messages and promote solidarity. Further, our findings on the visual characteristic of the most retweeted tweets highlight factors that health and government organisations should consider when creating visual health messages for Twitter. However, that more tweets used the emotive medium of photographs often combined with health loss framing raises concerns about persuasive tactics. More research is needed to understand the implications of framing and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours.

Specific COVID-19 messaging targeting ethnic minority communities.

Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, ethnic minority communities in the UK and elsewhere continue to be affected by a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality [1]. Increased COVID-19 risk has been attributed to a wide range of factors [2,3]. Whilst developing and implementing culturally appropriate, targeted interventions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority communities, are considered important, they have not been forthcoming. The low COVID-19 vaccine uptake among ‘BAME’ communities remains a priority for the government [4].

The language of states’ COVID-19 messages: Correlates of positive and negative emotion and health outcomes

Crisis communication is most effective when it takes into consideration the emotional reactions of those involved. Messages pertaining to pandemic illness such as COVID-19 should thus include the most effective types of words, given the goal of crisis management. This study investigated hypothesized word categories (e.g., reward/risk, focus on present versus past) related to superordinate categories of positive and negative emotional tone in COVID-19 fact sheets from each of the fifty states in the U.S. The relation of six word types to the superordinate categories and a health outcome variable (the rate of deaths per positive virus cases) was also tested. Results indicated that each of the six word types mapped on to either the positive or negative emotion word category. Furthermore, messages that included more reward and uncertainty words were associated with lower deaths per positive virus cases. Implications for future pandemic crisis messages are discussed.

CONTENT ANALYSIS OF COVID-19 MESSAGES ON SELECT WHATSAPP GROUPS: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE

This study examined novel coronavirus (COVID-19) messages on select Nigeria-based WhatsApp groups. Viewed through the lens of the Rumour Theory, the study applied content analysis and social semiotics (multimodal discourse analysis) methods. Data were elicited from three purposively selected WhatsApp groups, using the constructed and continuous weeks approach. The sample covered 6 weeks (42 days), spread across March, April, and May 2020. Findings from the content analysis showed that texts, comments, and linked message on COVID-19, had the highest frequency. The frequency of messages peaked in March and steeply tapered downwards in April and May 2020. The multimodal discourse analysis demonstrated a preponderance of messages about vaccines, treatment, prevention, lockdown, and conspiracy theories. A significant number of COVID-19 messages were based on rumours and misinformation from spurious sources, with a few from credible sources. The study recommended that to help flatten the misinformation curve, timely, unambiguous and accurate COVID-19 information should be provided from official sources.

Pandemic Parallels: What Can Cybersecurity Learn From COVID-19?

While the threats may appear to be vastly different, further investigation reveals that the cybersecurity community can learn much from the COVID-19 messaging response.

Let's Not Joke about It Too Much! Exposure to COVID-19 Messaging, Attitudes and Protective Behavioral Intentions.

Our study evaluates the role of exposure to COVID-19 messaging in negativity towards COVID-19 and the intentions to engage in protective behaviors. Building on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we derive a mediation model and test it in a sample of 737 participants (556 Romanians and 181 Kazakhs). The exposure to general information concerning COVID-19 positively predicts negative attitudes, negative emotions and the emergence of subjective norms in relation to COVID-19, as well as the likelihood of engaging in protective behavioral intentions. The exposure to humoristic communication, however, diluted the positive association between exposure to general information and negative attitudes, as well as negative emotions. The results support the overall predictions of the TPB and report positive associations between negative attitudes towards COVID-19, subjective norms and behavioral control on the one hand, and protective behavioral intentions on the other. Negative emotions significantly predict the likelihood of engaging in protective behaviors. Our results also show that older respondents tend to develop more negative attitudes towards COVID-19, yet they do not report stronger intentions to engage in protective behaviors than younger respondents. An important emergent result shows that time lapse seems to increase negativity towards COVID-19, yet it does not directly increase the likelihood of engaging in protective behaviors. Implications for public health communication related to COVID-19 are discussed.

Confronting COVID-19 in under-resourced, African American neighborhoods: a qualitative study examining community member and stakeholders’ perceptions

ABSTRACT Objective The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of COVID-19 related to prevention, coping, and testing of African American residents in under-resourced communities in Alabama. Design Guided by the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, virtual focus groups were conducted in five urban and rural Alabama communities using secure Zoom meetings. Community residents and stakeholders (N = 36 total) participated; meetings were audio- and video-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed according to Thematic Analysis. Themes were organized by the PRECEDE portion of the model in Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling barriers and facilitators in three focus areas: prevention, coping, and testing. Results Prevention barriers included apathy, difficulty with social distancing, lack of information, mixed messages from authority figures, and lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). Prevention facilitators included concerns about contracting COVID-19, clear and consistent messages from trusted sources, contact tracing, and the provision of PPE. Coping barriers included food insecurity, mental health issues, isolation, economic hardships, lack of health care access, and issues with virtual schooling and church services, which were exacerbated by the inability to connect to the internet. Facilitators to coping included religious faith, increased physical activity, and a sense of hope. Testing barriers included misunderstanding, fear, mistrust, testing restrictions, and location of testing sites. Facilitators to testing included incentives, clear information from trusted sources, convenient testing locations, and free tests. Conclusion Gaining community members’ perspectives can identify barriers and facilitators to prevention, coping, and testing and potentially improve outcomes. While addressing the social determinants of health (e.g. income, education, medical trust) would be an effective path by which to diminish health disparities related to COVID-19, there is an urgent need to mitigate the spread and severity of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations. Interventions should focus on downstream determinants, such as those emerging from our study.

Covid-19 Messages, Mental Health and Foreign Aid

The dissemination of public information during pandemics leads to fear mongering and misinformation. In the context of health communication, this paper suggests that health communication ought to be as clear as possible and easily interpretable. This can be achieved by broadcasting public service announcements through radio, television, and billboard platforms in local dialects and official languages. Furthermore, clear and effective messaging would empower people with the necessary tools to prevent infectious diseases and take control of their well-being. Moreover, this paper also explores the mental health burden that people have during the pandemic and the role that foreign aid can play in alleviating human suffering. In Africa, very little is known or researched when it comes to mental health which becomes a great issue of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. As people experience different forms of anxiety and depression resulting from fear, uncertainty, and loneliness, there are very limited resources for seeking help. When compared to the global rate, the number of Africans who receive care for their mental health is extremely low due to cultural norms and the limited number of mental health facilities and professionals. Nonetheless, the ability to achieve desirable health outcomes can significantly be boosted by foreign aid. Foreign aid has proven to be a tool for alleviating human suffering during pandemics. Most developing countries rely on foreign aid in the wake of a pandemic either through monetary (bilateral/multilateral) assistance or relief items. In addition to providing emergency relief measures in highly informal sectors, foreign aid can be used as a tool to channel liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), households, and informal workers. This paper takes a systems approach in highlighting the ways in which some of the aforementioned factors can be efficiently leveraged to curb the rate of disease spread, which in turn alleviates the burden of human suffering.