Use Of Risk Communication Research Articles

Resilience in risk communication networks: Following the 2015 MERS response in South Korea

This study investigates regional and local governmental agencies resilience in their use of risk communication with other governmental agencies. Analyses are based on the case of South Korea's response to the 2015 outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. Based on a survey of governmental organizations, the study indicates that governmental agencies seek either reciprocal or redundant communication ties with other governmental agencies while they aim to secure crucial information from high‐level organizations to tackle the transboundary nature of the infectious disease during the outbreak response. Semi‐structured interviews with South Korean officials confirm that subnational governmental agencies rely on the national government and also seek information from other regional and local agencies to improve the resilience in interagency risk communication and to prevent the further transmission of the infectious disease in their local jurisdictions. This study empirically demonstrates how governmental agencies cope with the uncertainty of infectious disease transmission by expanding risk communication channels when hierarchical communication channels and information systems do not meet the needs of outbreak response. The research findings contribute to the understanding of the interactions across organizations in addressing the needs of public health crises that are transboundary in nature and provide important lessons for outbreak responses in South Korea as well as in other countries.

1107 リスクマインド向上とリスクコミュニケーション活用(一般セッション)

1107 リスクマインド向上とリスクコミュニケーション活用(一般セッション)

Risk communication: against the Gods or against all odds? Problems and prospects of accounting for Black Swans

Recent academic and policy preoccupations with ‘Black Swans’ underscore the predicament of capturing and communicating risk events when information is absent, partial, incomplete or contingent. In this article, we wish to articulate some key thematic and theoretical points of concurrence around which academic and practitioner interests in risk communication under conditions of ‘high uncertainty’ intersect. We outline the historical context and recent debate concerning the limits to ‘risk thinking’ spurred by Black Swans, and in particular how this calls for a more holistic approach to risk communication. In order to support a more critical foresight agenda, we suggest incorporating ‘adaptive governance’ principles to decentre focal risk communication concerns on the mitigation of short-term security threats, which critics argue can also lead to other unforeseen dangers. Finally, we welcome further interdisciplinary inquiry into the constitution and use of risk communication under high uncertainty.

On the communicative constitution of risk objects in mediated times

This article provides an introduction to, and some motivation for, the themes addressed in the following collection of papers. This special issue was initially conceived as a kind of open-ended dialogue between communication studies and sociology, with the central focus being the conceptualization and practical understanding of the nature of risk communication. In the contemporary world, a technical discourse on risk has, in recent years, assumed the status of a universal basis for governance and administrative practice in both public and private sector spheres. This reframing of pre-existing organizational concerns in terms of risk categories reflects an underlying bureaucratic concern with the formally accountable, controllable and cost-effective management of contingency. During this period, the use of risk communication as a regulatory, policy and operational tool has become increasingly important for institutional attempts to optimize resource allocation, and to inform and influence the behaviour of target audiences. The emergence of this risk management society has occurred during a period of enormous growth in the density and complexity of global media communications, and the saturation of everyday life in an extraordinary diversity of mediated knowledge. Now is the time, we suggest, to re-examine risk communication from the point of view of its reflexive and constitutive dynamics. What are the implications for the nature and characteristics of risk objects and discourses in mediated, twenty-first-century, times? In what ways do the specific properties of risk objects and discourses come to shape the form of communication processes and practices? The following papers attempt to make some progress in responding to these important questions.

On interpretative risk perception research: Some reflections on its origins; its nature; and its possible applications in risk communication practice

The use of risk communication as a policy tool has become increasingly important in areas as diverse as emergency planning and health communication, and including aspects of many of the leading issues of the day. Its use, as a part of institutional attempts to inform and influence lay behaviour, is predicated upon a variety of models of how people make sense of risk-related issues. Many such models are based upon a cognitive information-processing metaphor, and have an underlying instrumental nature that assumes recipients ‘would behave responsibly if only they knew the facts’. In this paper, we discuss some alternative, sociological, approaches to risk perception that have developed over the last decade, in which resulting lay behaviours are recognised as being embedded within a matrix of everyday associations, preferred ways of life, trust relations, economic constraints and emotional commitments. In particular, we will be concerned with the emergence of so-called ‘interpretative’ risk perception research. In so doing, we draw particular attention to the relevance of Ryle's notion of ‘thick description’ in seeking to investigate the nature of practical reasoning about risk issues. We illustrate some of these themes by revisiting, and re-analysing, a particularly rich 10-year-old corpus of largely unpublished comparative UK and Spanish data, generated by citizens living in communities geographically close to potentially hazardous industrial facilities.

Improving patient adherence to lifestyle advice (IMPALA): a cluster-randomised controlled trial on the implementation of a nurse-led intervention for cardiovascular risk management in primary care (protocol).

BackgroundMany patients at high risk of cardiovascular diseases are managed and monitored in general practice. Recommendations for cardiovascular risk management, including lifestyle change, are clearly described in the Dutch national guideline. Although lifestyle interventions, such as advice on diet, physical exercise, smoking and alcohol, have moderate, but potentially relevant effects in these patients, adherence to lifestyle advice in general practice is not optimal. The IMPALA study intends to improve adherence to lifestyle advice by involving patients in decision making on cardiovascular prevention by nurse-led clinics. The aim of this paper is to describe the design and methods of a study to evaluate an intervention aimed at involving patients in cardiovascular risk management.MethodsA cluster-randomised controlled trial in 20 general practices, 10 practices in the intervention arm and 10 in the control arm, starting on October 2005. A total of 720 patients without existing cardiovascular diseases but eligible for cardiovascular risk assessment will be recruited.In both arms, the general practitioners and nurses will be trained to apply the national guideline for cardiovascular risk management. Nurses in the intervention arm will receive an extended training in risk assessment, risk communication, the use of a decision aid and adapted motivational interviewing. This communication technique will be used to support the shared decision-making process about risk reduction. The intervention comprises 2 consultations and 1 follow-up telephone call. The nurses in the control arm will give usual care after the risk estimation, according to the national guideline.Primary outcome measures are self-reported adherence to lifestyle advice and drug treatment. Secondary outcome measures are the patients' perception of risk and their motivation to change their behaviour. The measurements will take place at baseline and after 12 and 52 weeks. Clinical endpoints will not be measured, but the absolute 10-year risk of cardiovascular events will be estimated for each patient from medical records at baseline and after 1 year.DiscussionThe combined use of risk communication, a decision aid and motivational interviewing to enhance patient involvement in decision making is an innovative aspect of the intervention.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN51556722

An Improvement of Risk Mind and an Effective Use of Risk Communication for Project Success

An Improvement of Risk Mind and an Effective Use of Risk Communication for Project Success

Communicating occupational and environmental issues.

Effective health risk communication is an important tool that can prevent or modify the inappropriate public reactions that often accompany occupational and environmental health issues and allegations. The public perception of the magnitude or significance of risk is influenced by factors other than scientific data. The goal of risk communication therefore is more than just imparting scientific facts. It is about ensuring that the public fully understand risk and that they are enabled to make informed decisions under conditions of uncertainty. How people perceive risk, and their values and feelings toward occupational and environmental health issues, are as important considerations for risk communication as are numerical or factual scientific data. Occupational and environmental health scares often occur because of complexities such as the multidimensionality of risk, trust or mistrust in sources of information, technological revolution, the reliance of the public on the media for health information and the public desire for information and the truth. If, as health professionals, we are to address effectively both real and perceived occupational and environmental health issues, we need to be aware of the major advances that have been made in the use of risk communication in recent years.

A Global Perspective of Foodborne Disease

To be informed about foodborne diseases is a basic requirement for the production of safe food. Establishing the patterns of disease facilitates policy decisions, provides a basis for legislative action and the development of intervention strategies, and helps to set priorities in relation to research investments. The information on foodborne diseases made available indicates that foodborne disease is increasing worldwide and that new and emerging problems get through current safety procedures. Reasons for this include the increasing globalization of food production and trade, the application of new process technologies, changing eating habits, and increasing human migration.However, additional and more adequate information is needed for a rapid recognition of new and emerging foodborne diseases. Information is also deemed necessary for a risk analysis approach to safe food production. This applies especially to identifying hazards and gaining information about dose-response relationships. There are several ways to obtain such information: (i) a more extended analysis of reported food-associated incidents of disease, including gaining information about the dose-response relationship, (ii) application of sentinel and population studies for specific pathogenic agents, (iii) case-control studies to identify and quantify risk factors, and (iv) calculation of human exposure and translating the exposure by dose-response relationship into disease.To protect the consumer, both food producers and governments have their responsibilities in actively collecting the necessary information about foodborne disease and where necessary actively making use of risk communication.