Communicating with the public during health crises: experts' experiences and opinions

TLDR

Governments and health agencies worldwide plan for influenza pandemics and recognize the critical role of public communication, a topic newly integrated into emerging infectious disease communication literature. This study explores effective communication during health crises by interviewing 22 public health officials, scientists, and communication professionals. Interviews reveal that effective communication requires partnerships with journalists, careful handling of certainty and two‑way engagement, and strategies to address uncertainty and build trust. Keywords: health risk communication, emerging infectious disease, health crisis communication, expert opinion, flu pandemic.

Abstract

Abstract Governments and health agencies worldwide are planning for a potential influenza pandemic. Their plans acknowledge the importance of public communication during an outbreak and include related guidelines and strategies. Emerging infectious disease (EID) communication is a new addition to the literature, drawing on health promotion communication, crisis communication and environmental/technological risk communication. This paper adds to the literature, exploring the notion of 'effective communication during health crises' by reporting on interviews with 22 public health officials, scientists and communications professionals responsible for communicating with the public. When analyzed in the context of the risk communication literature, the interviews reveal several considerations for health risk communicators. First, given the important role that mass media will play in an EID outbreak, there is an urgent need for public health to build partnerships with journalists based on an understanding of the two parties' unique societal roles. Second, seemingly practical communications considerations – such as how certain to be about information before sharing it and whether to engage in two‐way communication with the public – have ethical dimensions that deserve attention. Third, there are unique challenges associated with communicating uncertainty, which would benefit from an exploration of the role of trust in health crisis communication. Keywords: health risk communicationemerging infectious diseasehealth crisis communicationexpert opinionflu pandemic