ABSTRACT

Public health/risk communication is the foremost responsibility of a government during a pandemic. Risk communication aims to educate people, enhance their risk perceptions to help them engage and understand the benefits of compliance with recommendations. The existing legal enforcement of recommendations in India is criticized for failing to influence the public’s compliance. While existing research provides conceptual and empirical support in explaining compliance during COVID-19, we note a lack of studies that might bring out country-specific areas of improvement. We argue that value-aligned risk communication is more likely to influence the public’s behavioral intentions to adopt the government’s recommendations. We employed a triangulation mixed-method study to link risk communication attributes to the public’s end goals and values. We triangulate these findings using the COVID score survey. We found that timeliness and transparency constitute risk communication’s functional component, and empathy and trust constitute risk communication’s emotional component. We found a difference in the preference of functional and emotional components among the public and health partners. Irrespective of this divide in perception, the study found that both groups unanimously noted engagement as the crucial aspect for empowerment and involvement to aid the public in teaming with the government to combat the pandemic effectively.

摘要

公共卫生/风险沟通是大流行期间政府的首要责任。风险沟通旨在教育人们，增强他们的风险认知，以帮助他们参与并了解遵守建议的好处。印度现有的建议法律执行因未能影响公众的遵守而受到批评。虽然现有研究在解释 COVID-19 期间的合规性方面提供了概念和经验支持，但我们注意到缺乏可能带来特定国家/地区改进领域的研究。我们认为，以价值为导向的风险沟通更有可能影响公众采纳政府建议的行为意向。我们采用三角测量混合方法研究将风险沟通属性与公众的最终目标和价值观联系起来。我们使用 COVID 评分调查对这些发现进行三角测量。我们发现及时性和透明度构成了风险沟通的功能成分，同理心和信任构成了风险沟通的情感成分。我们发现公众和健康合作伙伴对功能和情感成分的偏好存在差异。尽管存在这种观念上的分歧，该研究发现，两个群体都一致认为参与是赋权和参与的关键方面，以帮助公众与政府合作有效地抗击这一流行病。我们发现公众和健康合作伙伴对功能和情感成分的偏好存在差异。尽管存在这种观念上的分歧，该研究发现，两个群体都一致认为参与是赋权和参与的关键方面，以帮助公众与政府合作有效地抗击这一流行病。我们发现公众和健康合作伙伴对功能和情感成分的偏好存在差异。尽管存在这种观念上的分歧，该研究发现，两个群体都一致认为参与是赋权和参与的关键方面，以帮助公众与政府合作有效地抗击这一流行病。