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Vaccines represent one of the greatest health efforts to help combat diseases, yet they often evoke emotional responses among individuals. These emotional responses can influence an individual's desire to seek information about vaccines. The purpose of this research was to examine these relationships further using the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) and explore the role of emotions, specifically fear and hope, on vaccine-related information seeking intentions. Two separate models were tested using the PRISM model, one for fear and one for hope. Results suggest fear did not have a significant direct effect on vaccine information seeking, while hope had a positive and significant relationship. Interestingly, both attitude toward seeking and perceived current knowledge each had a positive relationship with information seeking intentions in the fear and hope models. Future research should continue to examine the role of specific emotions within the PRISM model to better predict information seeking intentions.

In 2014, a water crisis emerged in Flint, Michigan. Using uses and gratifications theory as the guiding framework, this study examines if crisis-related media uses, informational needs, and source preferences are related to respondents’ gender and/or whether or not respondents had children. A random sample of 208 Flint residents yielded results that are largely consistent with extant research, although minor nuances were found. Media uses, preferred informational sources, and desire to receive future crisis-related health information varied between women and men. Women reported significantly higher use of Facebook and Instagram. However, there were not significant differences between genders or respondents with/without children regarding their future informational needs about crisis-related health topics. Results are discussed in relation to extant research, theory, and praxis. Limitations and future research are also discussed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned systematic reviews to assist with the development of new emergency risk communication guidelines that will impact responses and distribution of resources at all levels. This mixed-method evidence synthesis, guided by Cochrane principles and methods, examined the extant research in countries throughout the world, published from 2003 to 2016, related to the best practices to engage communities in preparing for and responding to emergency events with public health implications. Although few studies directly examined which strategies or tactics effectively engage public participation, many studies reinforced the importance of community participation. The findings support the perspective that emergency events are communicatively understood by all publics and that they benefit from emergency risk communication before, during, and after such events, especially when grounded in local contexts. Although the importance of local context limits the generalizability of risk communication, it is important to continue studying strategies and tactics to cultivate participation among all stakeholders.

Communication during a public health emergency event is a complex process. The objective of the present systematic review was to examine the extant literature related to such events to answer the following question: What are the best ways to communicate uncertainties to public audiences, at-risk communities, and stakeholders? The search for literature was in multiple languages; it had a focus on English and included Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. The search included published studies, grey literature, and media reports. The found literature was narrowed to select only data-based primary studies, which were classified into four methodological streams: Quantitative-comparison groups; Quantitative-descriptive survey; Qualitative; and Mixed-method and case study. Study characteristics extracted from individual studies of all methodological streams included study method, country focus, disaster/ emergency type, disaster/ emergency phase, and at-risk/ vulnerable population. Study findings for all methodological streams were extracted as narrative findings. The synthesis of findings was done in two stages. In the first stage, findings from individual studies were synthesized within methodological streams and then these within-method synthesized findings were evaluated for certainty/ confidence using appropriate tools. In the second stage, the within-method synthesized findings were synthesized across methodological streams to develop an overarching synthesis of findings. In both the within-method and across-method stages, the synthesis of findings included subgroup analyses related to type of emergency event, phase of emergency event, country of emergency event, and presence of vulnerable population. The last two subgroups allowed considerations of equity in the synthesized findings. For English language literature search, almost 2900 titles and abstracts were scanned, of which about 1700 full-texts were quickly read. After this, 73 full-texts were downloaded, of which 33 data-based primary studies were selected for data extraction. For Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish languages all together almost 8600 titles and abstracts were scanned, of which about 900 full-texts were downloaded, of which 16 were fully read and then 13 data-based primary studies were selected for data extraction. The results showed that country coverage was of mostly high and middle-income countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The event most covered was infectious disease; other relatively common events included flood and earthquake. The final set of across-method synthesized findings showed that uncertainty in public health emergency events is a multi-faceted concept with multiple components. There is general agreement among experts and researchers, though with some exceptions, that communication by authorities to the public should include explicit information about uncertainties associated with events. However, it is important to ensure that the information provided is consistent and not contradictory, and is presented clearly and in an easy to understand manner. The findings also showed that uncertainty related to public health emergency events requires a distinction between uncertainty experience and uncertainty information. It is likely that uncertainty is experienced and uncertainty information is understood and misunderstood in the same general ways by both the public and experts. The experience of uncertainty may be a defining feature of a public health emergency event not only for the public and experts, but for the media as well as it has to often deal with contradictory and inconsistent uncertain information.

The systematic review examined the phenomenon of trust during public health emergency events. The literature reviewed was field studies done with people directly affected or likely to be affected by such events and included quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, and case study primary studies in English (N = 38) as well as Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish (all non-English N = 30). Studies were mostly from high- and middle-income countries, and the event most covered was infectious disease. Findings from individual studies were first synthesized within methods and evaluated for certainty/confidence, and then synthesized across methods. The final set of 11 findings synthesized across methods identified a set of activities for enhancing trust and showed that it is a multi-faceted and dynamic concept.

Safe, clean water is necessary for health and wellbeing. Water issues affect minority and vulnerable populations at disproportionate rates, including the poor and racial and ethnic minorities. An investigation of the relationships of race, social media use, and informational sources during the municipal water crisis in Flint, Michigan reflects an instrumental view of communication and uses and gratifications theory in this study. Data from 208 Flint residents in 2016 indicated that African American respondents favored interpersonal networks and resources and were more likely than other racial groups to obtain current information about the water crisis via Instagram. Preferred channels and sources to receive additional crisis information varied on the basis of race.

The Safe Drinking Water Act Public Notification Rule requires that customers of public water systems (PWS) be informed of problems that may pose a risk to public health. Boil water advisories (BWA) are a form of communication intended to mitigate potential health risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed guidance for BWAs. We examined how local US news media incorporate the CDC's guidelines when reporting on BWAs. A content analysis of 1040 local news media articles shows these reports did not consistently incorporate CDC guidelines. Overall, 89% of the articles communicated enough information for readers to determine if they were included in the impacted area. Articles that included at least

Performances can shape realities, perceptions, and meanings. Throughout the performance of the Wausau Possum Festival, possums are (mis)used as performative objects. The festival’s live possum auction serves as an exemplar of such performative functions while also demonstrating the “performer metaphor.” Thus, I argue that the festival’s performance perpetuates a human-over-nature hierarchy through social–natural, subject–object binaries that marginalize the possum. These binaries justify the possum’s objectification within the festival, ultimately reifying the binaries. The transhuman, materialist theory of communication is used to ground and situate my analysis. Implications are offered that call for (re)conceptualizations of our relationship with/in nature.

In 2014, 317 natural disasters were reported, impacting 94 countries, resulting in an estimated 7963 global deaths and costing nearly US$100 billion [28] , [29] . This issue becomes even more problematic when animal guardianship is considered during disasters. Therefore, this narrative systematic review of literature investigates the impact of companion animal guardianship before, during, and/or after a natural disaster. Nineteen peer-reviewed, empirical articles were included in this review. Articles were located using search terms and inclusion criteria via EBSCOhost, JSTOR, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. The included articles covered a range of natural disasters in various countries. Findings from the included articles are discussed within methodological streams (mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative descriptive) as well as synthesized across methodological streams. Findings suggest that companion animal guardianship can impact disaster-relevant decisions, behaviors, psychological symptoms, and willingness to work during a time of disaster. These findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to disaster planning, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Particularly, implications are discussed for public health and safety, disaster professionals and officials, resiliency, and contextual factors. The review concludes with a discussion of limitations and areas for future research.

This mixed-method evidence synthesis drew on Cochrane methods and principles to systematically review literature published between 2003 and 2016 on the best social media practices to promote health protection and dispel misinformation during disasters. Seventy-nine studies employing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods on risk communication during disasters in all UN-languages were reviewed, finding that agencies need to contextualize the use of social media for particular populations and crises. Social media are tools that still have not become routine practices in many governmental agencies regarding public health in the countries studied. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook (and equivalents in countries such as China), need to be incorporated into daily operations of governmental agencies and implementing partners to build familiarity with them before health-related crises happen. This was especially observed in U.S. agencies, local government, and first responders but also for city governments and school administrations in Europe. For those that do use social media during health-related risk communication, studies find that public relations officers, governmental agencies, and the general public have used social media successfully to spread truthful information and to verify information to dispel rumors during disasters. Few studies focused on the recovery and preparation phases and on countries in the Southern hemisphere, except for Australia. The vast majority of studies did not analyze the demographics of social media users beyond their geographic location, their status of being inside/outside the disaster zone; and their frequency and content of posting. Socioeconomic demographics were not collected and/or analyzed to drill deeper into the implications of using social media to reach vulnerable populations. Who exactly is reached via social media campaigns and who needs to be reached with other means has remained an understudied area.