Effective Communication Campaigns Research Articles

Health Communication Strategy in Changing Community Nutrition Behavior and Reducing Stunting Cases in South Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi

This study aims to analyze the communication capacity of public health cadres in designing and implementing effective health communication campaigns and their impact on changing the nutritional behavior of rural communities and helping to reduce the number of stunting cases in Indonesia. This study uses a qualitative and case study approach focusing on health communication strategies implemented by community health cadres in South Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province. Data collection used an in-depth interview method with public health cadres, which included evaluating their understanding of health communication, the use of social media in delivering health messages, and their ability to adapt nutrition messages to the local cultural context. Research findings show that most health cadres do not understand effective health communication. The use of social media in delivering health messages is still not optimal, and there are challenges in understanding and integrating local cultural contexts in nutrition counseling. The implications of this study suggest that enhancing the capacity of community health cadres in South Konawe Regency is imperative, particularly in proficient health communication through social media platforms and understanding the nuances of local cultural contexts. It is anticipated that implementing strategies aimed at augmenting the training and skill development of health cadres would significantly contribute to endeavors to mitigate the prevalence of stunting cases in rural Indonesian regions.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Presidential Rhetoric as a Strategic Resource

The article exposes Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential rhetoric as a strategic resource in Ukraine’s confrontation with the Russian aggressor after 24.02.2022. By grasping varied aspects of political communication exercised by the Ukrainian president, we try to explain how and why the Ukrainian state is capable of creating an effective communication campaign in times of being invaded by its powerful neighbor. According to our assumptions, it is particularly a matter of 1. clarity and relevance of goals that the head of Ukraine wants to achieve through his rhetoric, 2. inclusiveness of the formula that Zelenskyy uses to demonstrate the essence of being Ukrainian and contributing to Ukrainian culture; 3. his artistic proficiency which helps him in identifying the proper means of persuading broad audiences to his narrative and agenda.
 To verify the accuracy of the hypotheses, we employed theoretical concepts of logos, ethos, and pathos in the course of analysing chosen speeches delivered by the Ukrainian president. Moreover, the notions of “facilitating leadership” proposed by George C. Edwards III, and the “Medici Effect” coined by Frans Johansson are involved.
 The outcomes of the work confirmed our expectations. The high quality and strategic meaning of Zelenskyy’s statements after 24.02.2022 come from three main sources, i.e., 1. transparent and justified message; 2. the unifying qualities of the speaker; 3. his persuasive skilfulness.

Factors influencing the social perception of entrepreneurs in Spain: A quantitative analysis from secondary data.

The essential role that entrepreneurs play in the economy, while acknowledged in the academic context, is not always recognized socially. In the specific case of Spain, the profession has even been called into question by public institutions, which is highly detrimental to both the social image of entrepreneurs and the country's economy. Therefore, there is a need to identify factors that can improve this social image. This study aims to investigate one of these factors, specifically the effect of interest in economics. To do so, data from a large sample of 25,835 Spanish citizens from 2002-2022 were employed. The analysis was conducted using a combination of a neural network model and logistic regression. The conclusion of the study is that as interest in economics and business increases, the perception of entrepreneurs improves. Therefore, those individuals with less interest in economics tend to have a more negative view of this profession. This result opens up a potential avenue for enhancing the social image of entrepreneurs, as a higher interest in economics and business, which could be achieved through effective communication campaigns or basic education, leads to an improvement in perception.

US‐based and international environmental nongovernmental organizations use social media, but few have large audiences online

AbstractSocial media plays an outsized role in information dissemination, issue mobilization, and public influence. For environmental nongovernmental organizations (“eNGOs”), social media plays a critical role in fundraising and inspiring engaged audiences using rich media and punchy taglines. Yet, there is little to no accounting of whether and how eNGOs have adopted social media, limiting analyses of how eNGOs are leveraging social media to develop effective communication strategies and campaigns. We analyzed the social media presence of over 100 eNGOs. We evaluated which platforms are used by eNGOs and differences between them in terms of their visibility on social media. 88%–97% of the eNGOs in our sample use four out of the five leading social media platforms. There were marked differences across eNGOs and platforms in terms of public visibility, represented by the number of followers. eNGOs focusing on advocacy, aquatic environments, and species conservation had significantly larger numbers of followers. Our findings indicate that conservation can make more headway on newer, more visually‐oriented platforms that also have stronger youth traction. We use our analyses to identify which eNGOs have much larger followings on social media than expected. These leaders can provide lessons on how eNGOs can enhance their social media impact.

Soundscapes of morality: Linking music preferences and moral values through lyrics and audio.

Music is a fundamental element in every culture, serving as a universal means of expressing our emotions, feelings, and beliefs. This work investigates the link between our moral values and musical choices through lyrics and audio analyses. We align the psychometric scores of 1,480 participants to acoustics and lyrics features obtained from the top 5 songs of their preferred music artists from Facebook Page Likes. We employ a variety of lyric text processing techniques, including lexicon-based approaches and BERT-based embeddings, to identify each song's narrative, moral valence, attitude, and emotions. In addition, we extract both low- and high-level audio features to comprehend the encoded information in participants' musical choices and improve the moral inferences. We propose a Machine Learning approach and assess the predictive power of lyrical and acoustic features separately and in a multimodal framework for predicting moral values. Results indicate that lyrics and audio features from the artists people like inform us about their morality. Though the most predictive features vary per moral value, the models that utilised a combination of lyrics and audio characteristics were the most successful in predicting moral values, outperforming the models that only used basic features such as user demographics, the popularity of the artists, and the number of likes per user. Audio features boosted the accuracy in the prediction of empathy and equality compared to textual features, while the opposite happened for hierarchy and tradition, where higher prediction scores were driven by lyrical features. This demonstrates the importance of both lyrics and audio features in capturing moral values. The insights gained from our study have a broad range of potential uses, including customising the music experience to meet individual needs, music rehabilitation, or even effective communication campaign crafting.

The added value of web listening understanding HIV risk, prevention and communication needs in Italy

Abstract Background Institutional communication on sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV requires a thorough understanding of the population's information needs and awareness on the subject. Therefore, the National Institute of Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, conducted a web listening study to set up more effective communication campaigns. Methods The analysis of all conversations in Italian was conducted, from October 2021 to September 2022, through Blogmeter Suite, an integrated Social Listening platform. Data extraction was done by analyzing a database of more than 2 billion indexed documents (sources: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, forums, blogs, news sites, and app reviews such as Google Play and App Store) and containing at least one keyword among AIDS, HIV, HIV testing, STI. Results The term AIDS constitutes 48% of the total posts on STI, and conversations about it take place 62.7% on Facebook. TikTok and Instagram are the sources where there is the most interaction. Spikes in conversations about AIDS and HIV occurred in conjunction with news events and dedicated events. Younger generations have limited awareness of HIV risks and prevention. The barrier to HIV testing is cost, and it is found that not everyone is aware of self-testing. Stigma is related to the problem of anonymity, especially in the work environment, due to fear of career repercussions. Conclusions Data analysis shows that among STIs, HIV, represents the area of greatest concern. Awareness among the population is low, discussions related to seasonality and news events, and people at the time of diagnosis try to avoid their general practitioner, especially if they live in small towns and take refuge in more secretive network locations. Key messages • The analysis highlights how crucial evolution in institutional communication is. • Topics such as testing, stigma and, especially for young people, HIV risks and prevention need to be explored.

General population knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB) on hepatitis c screening, Latium, Italy

Abstract Background In 2022, a free-of-charge screening to eliminate the HCV virus circulation was offered countrywide to the citizens born from 1969 to 1989. Recent studies reported low adherence rates to HCV screening campaigns, highlighting the need for policy makers to know the determinants of adherence, aimed to set up more effective communication campaigns. Methods A target population random sample answered by phone a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model (HBF), containing 4 sections on perceived HCV susceptibility and severity, screening benefits and barriers. Each interviewed was finally invited to adhere to the screening. Prevalence was estimated using a 95% C.I., and association between sociodemographic characteristics, HBF attitudes, and screening adherence following the interview were assessed. Results Survey involved 641 participants. HCV susceptibility was perceived by 4.8% (C.I.95% 3,23-6,57) and HCV severity by 69,4% (I.C.95% 65,83-72,97), 95% (C.I.95% 93,3-96,6) acknowledged screening benefits and 88% (85,4-90,5) perceived no obstacles. It was found that 49.0% (C.I.95% 45,1-52,8) received no information. Perception of screening barriers was associated with low education level (OR 1.83, P = 0.02). In the 2 months following the interview, 17.6% (C.I.95% 14,6-20,5) carried out the HCV screening. Severity (OR 1.74, P = 0.03) and no barriers perception (OR 2.63, P = 0.01) were associated factors to post phone call adherence to UCV screening. Conclusions Insufficient communication campaign toward target population results in poor knowledge of HCV susceptibility and gravity and low adherence to HCV screening. Target population needs to acquire better awareness about HCV and HCV screening, through targeted and effective messages especially focusing on the susceptibility and gravity of HCV infection. Key messages • Target population does not feel susceptible to hepatitis c and has poor perception of severity. • It is necessary to improve communication through effective messages.

A comprehensive deep learning approach for topic discovering and sentiment analysis of textual information in tourism

Automatic discovery of underlying themes in a document collection is a valuable task across many disciplines. Advanced techniques can be challenging for non-experts in data science to understand. To address these challenges, this work proposes a comprehensive deep-learning-based method for gathering, preprocessing, analyzing, and classifying text data to discover topics in extensive collections of documents. This method produces results understandable to humans, which is especially valuable in fields outside of data science. We tested the proposed method on a corpus of all news articles (in English) from the USA and Canada about Cancun, a popular tourist destination in Mexico, published between July 2021 and July 2022. Despite negative media coverage, we discovered a positive attitude toward Cancun’s amenities. This information can help destination management organizations monitor the destination’s digital reputation and design effective communication campaigns for potential visitors who consult these sources of information.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Artisanal Fisheries and Education in The Gambia

The Gambia is one of the least developed countries in sub-Sahara Africa. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Gambian government implemented a lockdown and various restrictions in 2020, but the impacts on Gambians’ livelihood remained unclear. With the gradual relaxation of the lockdown and restrictions, we were able to conduct the first questionnaire surveys to interview 140 fishermen, 140 fishmongers and 80 customers in the artisanal fisheries sector, and 150 students (grade 9-12) and 14 teachers in the education sector, to assess the impact of the pandemic on their socio-economic and personal well-being. Both fishermen and fishmongers experienced a drop in sales, whereas customers had to pay more during the pandemic. Illegal fishing, lack of policy and regulations and price hikes were among the main concerns for the artisanal fisheries sector, although the respondents did not feel a change in their personal well-being due to the pandemic. Students and teachers did not have the necessary training or resources to conduct remote learning during the pandemic, and both attendance and academic performance declined as a result. Access to the internet and learning materials was very limited, and 10% of the students ceased learning activities altogether. 19% of students and 50% of teachers experienced poor mental health during the pandemic. The majority of the students were concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their education, whereas most teachers were concerned about their finances and psychological conditions. Nearly a quarter of the students relied on unofficial channels to learn about the pandemic, making them susceptible to misinformation. To safeguard Gambian’s well-being against future pandemics or similar large-scale disruptions, we recommend better fishery monitoring and policy enforcement, more fish storage facilities, improving digital learning capacity, providing mental health care in schools, and devising effective communication campaigns about the pandemic.

Monkeypox 2022 outbreak in non-endemic countries: Open questions relevant for public health, nonpharmacological intervention and literature review.

Starting from mid-May 2022, cases of human monkeypox started to rise in several non-endemic countries. By mid-July, more than 17000 confirmed/suspect cases have been reported by at least 82 countries worldwide, with a regular incremental trend. In order to contain the disease diffusion, risk evaluation is crucial to undertake informed decisions and effective communication campaigns. However, since orthopoxvirus infections so far have attracted low attention, due to the eradication of smallpox 40 years ago, and to the confinement of human monkeypox almost exclusively to endemic areas, several unresolved issues concerning natural history, ecology and pathogenesis remain. To this respect, we identified some open questions and reviewed the relevant literature on monkeypoxvirus and/or related orthopoxviruses. The results will be discussed in the perspective of their relevance to public health decisions, particularly those related to non-pharmacological interventions.

Marketing Communications in Differentiation and Positioning of Ukrainian Agrobusiness

The aim of the article. The purpose of this article is to study the experience and develop recommendations for improving marketing communications aimed at differentiating the products of agro-industrial enterprises of Ukraine and determining the position of such companies and their products in the markets. To achieve this goal, the roles of STP-marketing in the agro-industrial businesses of Ukraine are analyses in this article. The ways of increasing the efficiency of differentiation and positioning are also analysed, taking into account the personalization of interaction, Ukrainian heritage and foreign experience in marketing communications. Analyses results. The role of marketing communications in the differentiation and development of positioning strategies of Ukrainian enterprises are examines in the article. The object of the study is the agro-industrial sector, which has a special place in the national economy of Ukraine for over thirty years. The role of agribusiness is growing even more in times of crisis or wartime. The importance of finding new ideas and ways to differentiate the supply of agricultural companies are analysed. Attention is drawn to the need to build effective marketing communication campaigns that can inform target markets about the features of the agribusiness and its supply, compared to competitors. The important role of communication appeals in the formation of a clear position in the minds of consumers, suppliers, competitors and contact audiences and the corresponding perception of the proposed value are noted. The research highlights the importance of establishing communications in the STP marketing process. At the same time, agricultural enterprises must choose at which level to position themselves: at the level of product, brand or company. This is important for the selection and rational combination of appropriate of marketing communications tools, which influence not only the costs of the enterprise, but also the success of the marketing strategy. Special attention in this article is paid to the requirements of modern consumers who need special treatment. The key to the success of differentiation and positioning today, and consequently marketing communications are the personalization of interaction and the desire of customers to share information about themselves. It is proved that personalization should become a part of a modern marketing communication campaign of any agribusinesses in Ukraine. An important differentiator for the Ukrainian agricultural sector - a long time on the market - is analysed separately. Agribusinesses in Ukraine and relevant government agencies should use a variety of marketing communications in order to give agricultural products a distinct look, different from other producers and countries with a well-formed and well-founded position. Conclusions and directions for further research. Modern approaches to promotion policy with the use of powerful marketing communications tools can help the development of agro-industrial enterprises in Ukraine today. Communications can become a mechanism for identifying manufactured goods or the company itself, help to effectively differentiate and position agribusiness. However, marketers of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises should make more efforts to understand their consumers and the peculiarities of their behaviour. We should pay attention to the experience of large agricultural companies in Ukraine and the world and use their positive experience to attract additional attention to the current supply. In the following studies, it is advisable to pay attention to the experience and heritage of Ukrainian agribusiness, especially in foreign markets

Barriers to Practicing COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Among Migrant Workers in Qatar: A Qualitative Study During the First Wave of the Pandemic.

Objectives: Manual and Craft Workers (MACWs), who constitute more than 80% of the population, were identified to be a vulnerable group to COVID-19 in Qatar. The goal of this study is to identify the limitations face MACWs in Qatar towards practicing the COVID-19 preventive measures and thereby designing behavioral change strategies. Methods: This is a qualitative research study in which individual interviews and focus group discussions were utilized for a deep understanding of the phenomenon from key informants. Four onlive individual interviews and four focus groups (n = 55) were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Inductive qualitative analysis was followed to discover the themes of the interviews. Data were analyzed using constant comparative techniques. Results: Major themes elicited from the analysis revealed that the barriers to following COVID-19 preventive behaviors among migrant workers in Qatar included barriers related to knowledge and risk perception; lifestyle and habits; nature of work and living conditions, and barriers related to health communication, diversified cultures, and languages. Conclusion: The findings would support constructing culturally sensitive health education messages and planning for effective health communication campaigns.

Reducing the Use of Disposable Plastics through Public Engagement Campaigns: An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Message Appeals, Modalities, and Sources.

This study examines how different ways of presenting information about the ecological threats stemming from the use of disposable plastics may affect people’s willingness to reduce their use. To test our hypotheses, we used a 2 × 3 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, utilizing a sample of 1001 Hong Kong residents. The independent variables tested included: (a) message frame (gain vs. loss), (b) modality (text vs. image vs. infographic), and (c) information source (government vs. non-governmental organization). The findings demonstrate that the loss frame was more effective than the gain frame in persuading participants to reduce the use of disposable plastics. Furthermore, compared to image-based messages, text-based and infographic-based messages were more effective in promoting the reduction in the use of disposable plastics. For information sources, however, we found no main effect on behavioral intentions. However, this study still suggests an interaction effect of the loss frame and NGO source, as well as the interaction between text-based modality and government source, both leading to more positive outcomes. Furthermore, the study reveals that negative emotional responses mediate the effect of media frames on behavioral intentions. The findings offer useful insights for designing more effective communication campaigns aimed at curbing the use of disposable plastics.

Safety, immunogenicity, efficacy, and acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination in people with multiple sclerosis: a narrative review.

In the last two years, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection has spread worldwide leading to the death of millions. Vaccination represents the key factor in the global strategy against this pandemic, but it also poses several problems, especially for vulnerable people such as patients with multiple sclerosis. In this review, we have briefly summarized the main findings of the safety, efficacy, and acceptability of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination for multiple sclerosis patients. Although the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines has progressively increased in the last year, a small but significant part of patients with multiple sclerosis still has relevant concerns about vaccination that make them hesitant about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, available data suggest that the COVID-19 vaccination is safe and effective in multiple sclerosis patients, even though some pharmacological treatments such as anti-CD20 therapies or sphingosine l-phosphate receptor modulators can reduce the immune response to vaccination. Accordingly, COVID-19 vaccination should be strongly recommended for people with multiple sclerosis and, in patients treated with anti-CD20 therapies and sphingosine l-phosphate receptor modulators, and clinicians should evaluate the appropriate timing for vaccine administration. Further studies are necessary to understand the role of cellular immunity in COVID-19 vaccination and the possible usefulness of booster jabs. On the other hand, it is mandatory to learn more about the reasons why people refuse vaccination. This would help to design a more effective communication campaign aimed at increasing vaccination coverage among vulnerable people.

Impact of Citizens’ Personal Values, Knowledge, Awareness, Informing, Advertising, and Truth of Environmental and Climate Challenges in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals

In order to raise citizens’ awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to develop an effective communication campaign on the SDGs, it is crucial to know citizens’ values, their awareness and knowledge of the SDGs, as well as how they receive information on sustainability. As no previous study has addressed this issue, this study aimed to fill a research gap and find out how demographic variables, personal values, awareness of sustainability challenges, information, and advertising influence citizens’ support for the SDGs. An online survey was conducted with representative Slovenian citizens (N = 502). The results showed that Slovenian citizens know little about sustainability issues and the SDGs. The greater the personal values, awareness of sustainability issues, higher education, efficient information, and trust in advertising, the greater the public support for the SDGs. To gain citizen support for the SDGs, it is important to plan a systematic communication campaign and government-led communication about the SDGs in the media. This includes information on sustainability issues, presentation of the environmental friendliness of a product/service, potential positive actions, and potential negative consequences.

The lived experiences of a COVID-19 immunization programme: vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global health emergency and lock-down measures to curb the uncontrolled transmission chain. Vaccination is an effective measure against COVID-19 infections. In Malaysia amidst the national immunisation programme (NIP) which started in February 2021, there were rising concerns regarding the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and refusal, and therefore, vaccine uptake among Malaysians. Although there are many quantitative studies on COVID-19 vaccination, the subjective experience of individuals was understudied. This study aims to explore the lived experiences of Malaysians regarding vaccine hesitancy and refusal, and facilitating factors that could enhance vaccine acceptance and uptake.MethodsThis qualitative study employed the hermeneutic phenomenological study design. Purposive sampling strategies were used to recruit Malaysians that had direct experiences with friends, family members and their community who were hesitating or refusing to accept the COVID-19 vaccines. A semi-structured interview guide was developed based on the expert knowledge of the investigators and existing literature on the topic. A series of focus group interviews (FGIs) was conducted online facilitated by a multidisciplinary team of experts. The group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed.ResultsFifty-nine participants took part in seven FGIs. We found that “incongruence” was the overall thematic meaning that connected all the 3 main themes. These themes comprise firstly, the incongruence between the aims and implementation of the National Immunization Program which highlighted the gap between realities and needs on the ground. Secondly, the incongruence between Trust and Mistrust revealed a trust deficit in the government, COVID-19 news, and younger people’s preference to follow the examples of local vaccination “heroes”. Thirdly, the incongruence in communication showed the populace’s mixed views regarding official media and local social media.ConclusionsThis study provided rich details on the complex picture of the COVID-19 immunization program in Malaysia and its impact on vaccine hesitancy and refusal. The inter-related and incongruent factors explained the operational difficulty and complexity of the NIP and the design of an effective health communication campaign. Identified gaps such as logistical implementation and communication strategies should be noted by policymakers in implementing mitigation plans.

Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected national healthcare systems worldwide, with around 282 million cumulative confirmed cases reported in over 220 countries and territories as of the end of 2021. The Italian National Health System was heavily affected, with detrimental impacts on preventive service delivery. Routine vaccination services were disrupted across the country during the first months of the pandemic, and both access to and demand for vaccines have decreased during the pandemic. In many cases, parents preferred to postpone scheduled appointments for routine paediatric vaccinations because of stay-at-home orders or fear of COVID-19 infection when accessing care. The objective of the current study was to assess the routine childhood vaccine coverage (VC) rates during the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy. We compared 2020 and 2019 VC by age group and vaccine type. The Italian Ministry of Health collected anonymised and aggregated immunisation national data through the local health authorities (LHAs). Results were considered statistically significant at a two-tailed p-value ≤ 0.05. VC rates for mandatory vaccinations decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 (range of VC rate decrease: −1% to −2.7%), while chicken pox increased (+2.2%) in 7-year-old children. Recommended vaccinations were moderately affected (range of VC rate decrease in 2020 vs. 2019: −1.4% to −8.5%), with the exception of anti-HPV in males, Men ACWY, and anti-rotavirus vaccination (VC increase 2020 vs. 2019: +1.8%, +4.7% and +9.4%, respectively). In the COVID-19 era, the implementation of coherent, transparent, and effective communication campaigns and educational programs on safe childhood vaccinations, together with the increase in the number of healthcare staff employed, is essential to support strategies to reinforce vaccination confidence and behaviour, thus avoiding health threats due to VPD during and beyond COVID-19 times.

Information behaviour of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia

Introduction. In this study, we examined the information behaviour of people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia. The research took place before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Methods. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants. Analysis. The content of interviews was analysed for a priori and emergent themes and iteratively categorized. In addition, we used k-means clustering to identify the types of information users. Results. People living with HIV used government AIDS and CDC centres, primary care physicians, television, websites and their personal networks as their information sources. Some participants reported that receiving COVID-19 information increased their stress levels. Threats to their privacy and the fear of disclosing their HIV-positive status were identified as some of the barriers to seeking and sharing information they encountered. Three types of information users were identified: Netizens, Traditionalists and Lurkers. Conclusions. The findings of this study can be used to help design effective health communication campaigns and information systems for people living with HIV in general and to provide COVID-19 information in particular.

Pandemic prevention and personality psychology: Gender differences in preventive health behaviors during COVID-19 and the roles of agreeableness and conscientiousness

One of the greatest public health crises in recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic, has come with a myriad of challenges in terms of health communication and public cooperation to prevent the spread of the disease. Understanding which are the key determinants that make certain individuals more cooperative is key in effectively tackling pandemics and similar future challenges. In the present study (N = 800), we investigated whether gender differences in compliance with preventive health behaviors (PHB) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic could be established, and, if so, whether the personality traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness could help explain this presumed relationship. Consistent with our theorizing, we found women to score higher than men on agreeableness and conscientiousness, and to be more willing to comply with a set of PHB. Importantly, both personality traits were found to mediate the gender-compliance link. This means that women's greater compliance levels with PHB could, at least in part, be attributed to their higher agreeableness and conscientiousness scores. A greater understanding of the determinants of PHB in terms of gender and associated personality traits may help identify options for developing more effective communication campaigns, both in terms of communication channel selection and message content.

Effective Communication for Water Resilient Communities: A Conceptual Framework

Communication campaigns to promote the importance of water as a vital but limited resource have evolved in many ways. Nowadays, the resources, techniques and skills to deliver effective communication campaigns are far greater than ever before. Over the past decades, there has been a significant body of research towards improving water conservation campaign communication but with limited success in promoting more resilient behaviours on behalf of water consumers. While the media and technology have rapidly evolved and awareness among consumers may have increased, this has not been sufficient to make the communication effective in changing behaviour. Communications to promote resilience among consumers need to reach a wide audience, capture audiences’ attention, build awareness and motivate water consumers to consume water sustainably. This represents a subject in need of further theoretical and conceptual investigation. This research reviews various approaches to effective communication and through a synthesis of the concepts aims to present a new, socio-psychological water conservation conceptual framework. The present conceptual framework integrates emotional appeal, for use on social media platforms and in order to foster more water resilient communities. This framework represents a potentially major contribution in providing guidelines for water sectors to deliver effective video communications on social media platforms.