Search

Green gas is an attractive option for a local energy transition to combat climate change, notably in rural communities. As local initiatives require local acceptance, the study used a questionnaire methodology to capture opinions and intentions toward green gas in a panel of rural respondents (N= 403) and evaluated the green gas message framing to help improve communication strategies. This survey experiment used four frames in a 2 × 2 setup: an energy value core frame of responsibility for nature versus autonomy and a focus frame emphasizing the collective (i.e., the community) versus the individual (i.e., the household). Our findings highlight that the association with sustainability proves vital for a positive assessment of green gas, but its affordability is an issue. Moderated mediation analysis showed that subjective knowledge moderates between frames and intentions toward green gas: responsibility for nature contributes significantly, but only in the collective focus frame. These results are valuable in creating effective communication strategies about green gas adoption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To gain insight into how communication vulnerable people and health‐care professionals experience the communication in dialogue conversations, and how they adjust their conversation using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) or other communication strategies. Methods: Communication vulnerable clients and health‐care professionals in a long‐term care institution were observed during a dialogue conversation (n = 11) and subsequently interviewed (n = 22) about their experiences with the conversation. The clients had various communication difficulties due to different underlying aetiologies, such as acquired brain injury or learning disorder. Results from the observations and interviews were analysed using conventional content analysis. Results: Seven key themes emerged regarding the experiences of clients and professionals: clients blame themselves for miscommunications; the relevance of both parties preparing the conversation; a quiet and familiar environment benefitting communication; giving clients enough time; the importance and complexity of nonverbal communication; the need to tailor communication to the client; prejudices and inexperience regarding AAC. The observations showed that some professionals had difficulties using appropriate communication strategies and all professionals relied mostly on verbal or nonverbal communication strategies. Conclusion: Professionals were aware of the importance of preparation, sufficient time, a suitable environment and considering nonverbal communication in dialogue conversations. However, they struggled with adequate use of communication strategies, such as verbal communication and AAC. There is a lack of knowledge about AAC, and professionals and clients need to be informed about the potential of AAC and how this can help them achieve equal participation in dialogue conversations in addition to other communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, programs to improve udder health are implemented using communication tools and methods that inform and persuade dairy farmers. This study evaluated 2 communication strategies used in a mastitis control program in the Netherlands. To improve farmers' udder health management, tools such as instruction cards, treatment plans, checklists and software were developed following an argument-based comprehensive "central route." These tools were used during on-farm study group meetings for farmers organized by veterinarians and also during individual veterinarian-farmer interactions. The second strategy aimed at adopting a single management practice to increase the use of milking gloves during milking. This approach followed a straightforward "peripheral" route that used implicit persuasion techniques. Results of an online survey of 374 Dutch dairy farmers showed that most farmers were able and willing to use the educational management tools to increase udder health on their farms. They evaluated the tools positively regardless of the mastitis problems on their farms. This seems to indicate that the central route of communication is most effective when farmers are motivated to work on udder health in general. Results of repeated random telephone surveys before, during, and after the campaign on the use of milking gloves showed that the use of gloves increased from 20.9 to 42.0% of the respondents. Respondents' opinions about milking gloves also changed favorably, indicating that a relatively short peripheral campaign on a single action can have a sustained effect on farmers' behavior. Both communication strategies seem to be potentially successful in disseminating knowledge to a specific target group of farmers and in changing that group's behavior. However, to reach as many farmers as possible, the strategies should be combined. When optimizing these strategies, both the farmers' motivation to work on udder health and the aim of the campaign should be considered. When aiming to improve general udder health management, the central route seems to be effective if farmers are already motivated to optimize their udder health management. For farmers who are less motivated to work on udder health, the peripheral route seems to be most effective when aiming to change a single management practice. The evaluated communication strategies are examples of how management practices to control mastitis can be effectively communicated to farmers. As such, this study contributes to optimizing future programs to control and prevent diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amongst numerous natural hazards, flooding annually causes the highest economic and societal losses in Europe. A reason for these losses are rising number of exposed assets in risk prone areas. Additionally, changes in extreme hydro-meteorological events impact the flood-resilience of such cities. Complementing government led protection and adaptation measures, private measures (dry- and wet-flood proofing, barrier systems, deflection of flood discharge, etc.) have been seen to decrease potential damages by flood events. Nevertheless, private protection and adaptation measures are not always adequately implemented, which is amongst others, the result of insufficient communication pathways between flood authorities and homeowners. The aim of the FLOODLABEL project is to increase the resilience and the adaptive capacity of cities in a smart manner. The FLOODLABEL is a prototype tool which aims at informing homeowners about their individual flood risks and to support the planning and decision-making of experts and local governments in risk management processes. By developing the FLOODLABEL tool both private stakeholders and homeowners can be involved in decision-making processes to enhance the resilience of communities. Hence, this study focuses on how homeowners in flood prone areas can be motivated to realise private measures by considering their knowledge about hazards, their risk behaviour and individual communication strategies wanted. The case study areas are sites in neighbourhoods that are prone to different types of flooding in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria. In these areas, the FLOODLABEL is explored and tested in terms of its social and technical functionality as well as its ability to improve risk communication. Preliminary results give insight into current protection and adaptation strategies realised by inhabitants and the different needs of risk communication depending on their risk behaviour. Further expected results are to integrate insights to improve communication strategies to provide tailored information. This can additionally be applied to advance planning support systems in risk management strategies in order to move towards more flood resilient communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RiverCare is a 6 year Dutch research program that improves our fundamental understanding of river behavior for integrated flood risk management and collaborative maintenance. During-mid 2014 and December 2019, over 20 researchers from 5 universities have studied the hydro-morphological and ecological consequences of multiple river interventions that aim at reducing flood water levels and improving the spatial quality in Dutch rivers. As part of RiverCare, a multimedia strategy was developed to increase the accessibility of contributions and to get feedback from practitioners about the potential use of RiverCare (scientific) products in the Netherlands and abroad.The communication strategy is a joint effort between the RiverCare program (https://kbase.ncr-web.org/rivercare/) and the Netherlands Centre for River studies (NCR) (https://ncr-web.org/) to further discuss our work with the scientific and practical community and extend communication efforts after the program ends. The strategy includes an online knowledge-base that gives an overview about how methods and tools contribute towards more sustainable management. We use participatory methods for a user-centered design and carry out systematic evaluation to identify needs for improvement. Usability tests over the iterative design process were carried out with input of students and representatives of the intended audience who helped to improve the navigation and tailor content. The design aims to help users find out the most interesting project for their needs by means of an infographic, videos and an interactive map. For each project, researchers give an overview of their project outputs, innovative aspects and status for day-to-day practice while providing links to the storylines for practice, research outputs details including the supporting datasets. To increase the reach, RiverCare newsletters, blogs and news articles are being distributed through the NCR mailing list and other water platforms, both in the Netherlands as abroad.Systematic evaluation has been useful to tailor communication efforts and to give advice for other research programs in the field of environmental and risk management. Challenges are to reach a larger but interested audience to prove the effectiveness of our approach, to draw recommendations for improving current practices per main research themes and to explore the possibilities to further apply our results in other locations. Therefore, to hear and discuss the program's outcome, its implications and relevance, we will be inviting interested practitioners to explore our site, give feedback about their interests and register to the final RiverCare symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]