Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States

Objectives: Investigate how the speech context of news conferences reveals the risk communication strategies for health authorities during COVID-19 and measure the evolution of those risk communication strategies.Methods: We collected news conference transcripts concerning COVID-19 for the first qua...

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Main Authors: Yue Yuan, Na Pang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-01
Series:International Journal of Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604968/full
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author Yue Yuan
Na Pang
author_facet Yue Yuan
Na Pang
author_sort Yue Yuan
collection DOAJ
description Objectives: Investigate how the speech context of news conferences reveals the risk communication strategies for health authorities during COVID-19 and measure the evolution of those risk communication strategies.Methods: We collected news conference transcripts concerning COVID-19 for the first quarter from the official websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NHC) in 2020. Quantitative analyses were conducted on the topics and emotions of transcripts to measure the evolution of risk communication strategy. A total of three types of analysis were carried out in our study: topic, sentiment, and risk communication evolution analyses.Results: The trending topics and the number of these in the two institutions evolved with the infection status. The CDC and NHC maintained primarily neutral sentiment, while the non-neutral sentiment of the CDC swung more dramatically. Furthermore, the changing pattern of risk communication evolution for the CDC and NHC varied, where the latter had a more stable change routine.Conclusion: Our study finds that the strategies could be measured by topic variation, emotional expressions, and confirmed cases. The CDC and NHC tend to adopt different risk communication strategies and have specific change routines facing the pandemic. In addition, our findings contribute to addressing the WHO research agenda for managing risk communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helps health authorities formulate and measure risk communication strategies.
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spelling doaj.art-b7d59acbaa374b9b80851a725df932222022-12-22T02:55:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.International Journal of Public Health1661-85642022-11-016710.3389/ijph.2022.16049681604968Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United StatesYue YuanNa PangObjectives: Investigate how the speech context of news conferences reveals the risk communication strategies for health authorities during COVID-19 and measure the evolution of those risk communication strategies.Methods: We collected news conference transcripts concerning COVID-19 for the first quarter from the official websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NHC) in 2020. Quantitative analyses were conducted on the topics and emotions of transcripts to measure the evolution of risk communication strategy. A total of three types of analysis were carried out in our study: topic, sentiment, and risk communication evolution analyses.Results: The trending topics and the number of these in the two institutions evolved with the infection status. The CDC and NHC maintained primarily neutral sentiment, while the non-neutral sentiment of the CDC swung more dramatically. Furthermore, the changing pattern of risk communication evolution for the CDC and NHC varied, where the latter had a more stable change routine.Conclusion: Our study finds that the strategies could be measured by topic variation, emotional expressions, and confirmed cases. The CDC and NHC tend to adopt different risk communication strategies and have specific change routines facing the pandemic. In addition, our findings contribute to addressing the WHO research agenda for managing risk communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helps health authorities formulate and measure risk communication strategies.https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604968/fullCOVID-19sentiment analysisCDCrisk communicationquantitative analysisnews conference transcripts
spellingShingle Yue Yuan
Na Pang
Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
International Journal of Public Health
COVID-19
sentiment analysis
CDC
risk communication
quantitative analysis
news conference transcripts
title Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
title_full Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
title_fullStr Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
title_full_unstemmed Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
title_short Measuring the Evolution of Risk Communication Strategy for Health Authorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Comparison Between China and the United States
title_sort measuring the evolution of risk communication strategy for health authorities during the covid 19 pandemic an empirical comparison between china and the united states
topic COVID-19
sentiment analysis
CDC
risk communication
quantitative analysis
news conference transcripts
url https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604968/full
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