Chiara Valentini, Elanor Colleoni, Yan Jin and Sung In Choi (PhD candidate) (2023, May). “Public’s Health Information Consumption During a Prolonged Pandemic: The Competing Roles of Journalists and Digital Influencers and Their Effects in Combating Message Fatigue.” Journalism Division, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada.
Abstract: This study empirically investigates COVID-19 information consumption behaviors of individuals who show pandemic fatigue indications. Particularly, this study examines the relation between the type of information source—journalist versus digital influencer—, how people feel about the pandemic, how they cognitively cope with the information they receive, and in their overall message fatigue. Data collection took place in spring 2022 through a market research company on a representative sample of the population in Australia, Finland, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, and the United States of America. The sample comprises over 3000 respondents stratified by age, gender, education, and house income. Results show that consuming more journalists’ information helps people reduce cognitive coping and subsequent message fatigue, if individuals think those messages are highly credible. On the other hand, consuming more digital influencers’ information increases cognitive coping behavior and message fatigue. This study contributes to expand our understanding of the role of journalists vis-à-vis that of digital influencers during a global pandemic.
Karen Robayo Sanchez (PhD student), Yan Jin, and Vivian Medina-Messner (2023, March). “How Hispanic and Latino Young Adults Respond to COVID-19 Crisis Information on Social Media: Opportunities of Overcoming Digital Inequality Threat to Public Health.” International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC), Orlando, FL.
Abstract: Our research seeks to provide current knowledge on media usage by Hispanic and Latino young adults in a health crisis. We will perform a survey to identify the sources and means used by this population during COVID-19 to seek, vet, and share information in a social media-mediated health crisis. This study will be among the first pursuing to identify the sources and media used by Hispanic and Latino young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic to seek, vet, and share information in a social-mediated health crisis. Our findings will contribute to future research essential to advancing health public relations theory and practice by addressing the digital inequality and health information disparity challenges confronting racial and ethnic minority groups in times of public health.
- Boyle, Glen Nowak, R. Kinder, R. Iachan, and J. Dayton, “Understanding the Impact of General Vaccine Attitudes on the Intent for Early COVID-19 Vaccination,” Vaccines, 2023, 11(2), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11020235.
Abstract: This study provides a more comprehensive assessment of factors influencing willingness to get an early COVID-19 and the relative contribution of general vaccine attitudes, compared to demographics, perceived threat and institutional trust. Monthly national surveys were conducted between June and November 2020 using a national consumer panel of U.S. adults (n = 6185). By late November, only 24% of respondents said they were very likely to get a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it became available. While COVID-19 risk perceptions, confidence and trust in key institutions and information sources, and some demographic variables, were predictive of early vaccination intent, general beliefs regarding vaccines played a significant role, even compared to demographics, perceived risk and institutional trust. This lesson from the COVID-19 experience could help inform public health communications in future epidemics.
Abstract: Interpreting a facemask as an unspoken statement of one’s identity during the COVID-19 pandemic based on product symbolism theory, the present study examines the relationships among one’s trust in a) government, b) the scientific community, and c) the media, perceived similarity with other mask-wearers, and mask-wearing. Based on an online survey, this study found that participants’ trust in these health information sources was positively associated with perceived similarity with other mask-wearers, which then led to a higher level of mask-wearing behavior.
Abstract: The objective of this project is to create more reliable infectious disease models that are informed by social science regarding health-related preferences, perceptions and intentions/behaviors. This project will design and implement a national longitudinal survey of the US adult population to identify and develop profiles using health decision-making preferences, risk-benefit perceptions, demographics (including political ideology), health information sources used and trusted, preventative behavior intentions/adoption, and willingness to comply with medical countermeasures. We will then create epidemiological models that incorporate demographic segmentation, health decision making preferences, compliance and compliance intentions, and key psychological constructs to assess the effects on epidemiologic dynamics. Finally, this project involves performing computer simulations to identify the survey measures that most affect desired epidemiologic outcomes, and in turn, would be most useful for informing public health policies and guiding outbreak communications.
Abstract: This study examined the effects of literacy and efficacy on individuals’ protective action taking and information seeking during the early phase of infectious disease outbreaks through a nationally representative survey of 1,164 U.S. adults. New measures of disaster literacy and crisis efficacy were tested. Overall, results revealed that crisis efficacy and organizational efficacy drove protective action taking and information seeking intentions, while health literacy did not. Disaster literacy negatively predicted both protective action advice seeking and information seeking. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening public efficacy and improving relationships between health authorities and the public, which is greatly influenced by the public’s confidence in the health authority’s management of the crisis.
Abstract: Despite impressive strides toward proper health education about the pandemic, in resource-limited contexts, health information dissemination occurs within a structural context that restricts the enactment of agency and leads to further marginalization of the most vulnerable. Through observations of and reflections about Ghana’s work in health communication about the COVID-19 pandemic, this essay examines the key processes and outcomes of COVID-19 information dissemination in Ghana, highlighting the structural factors that contribute to health inequities during the pandemic. We argue that although Ghana has been commended continentally and globally for the country’s efforts in containing the virus and securing vaccines to vaccinate its populace, there is evidence of health information access disparities across the country especially in rural communities. In doing so, we increase knowledge about health information needs and gaps, and conclude by making recommendations for public health practitioners in Ghana and similar contexts.
Glen Nowak was a guest on the Research Comms Podcast, a weekly podcast featuring interviews with “people who are doing inspiring, innovative work in the field of research communications.” The focus of this episode was “What lessons can we learn from the Covid pandemic about how to communicate public health during a time of crisis?” https://www.orinococomms.com/research-comms-blog-podcast/glen-nowak-crisis-communication
Sun, Ruoyu (Grady alumna) and Juan Meng. (2022). “Looking at young millennials’ risk perception and purchase intention toward GM foods: Exploring the role of source credibility and risk attitude.” Health Marketing Quarterly, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print, early cite date: March 27, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/07359683.2022.2053805
Abstract: This study investigated young millennials’ risk perception, benefit perception, and purchase intention toward GM foods by testing the effects of source credibility and risk attitude. By comparing two samples collected in the U.S. (N = 207) and China (N = 242), we found that source credibility positively influenced benefit perceptions of GM foods among Chinese millennial consumers. Results also revealed risk attitude significantly influenced both American and Chinese millennial consumers’ intention to purchase GM foods. Furthermore, a significant interaction effect between source credibility and risk attitude was found on Chinese millennial consumers’ risk perception of GM foods.
Abstract: This research presents the findings from a large-scale national online survey of citizens in Mainland China about the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in the time of lockdown and post-pandemic. The study sheds light on the relationship between the trusted sources of COVID-19 information and the perceived quality in communication by jointly considering their impact on individuals’ knowledge retention of COVID-19 related facts. Results revealed that although individuals in China have relied on several major sources to seek COVID-19 information, the perceived quality of communication in user-generated content on social media remain lowest. Individuals’ knowledge retention on COVID-19 related health communication messages also varied by gender and by age. Implications of these findings for theory and public health practice are also discussed.
