Ethical issues in public health communication: Practical suggestions from a qualitative study on campaigns about organ donation in Switzerland

Objectives In Switzerland, in spite of a positive attitude towards organ donation, the population seems to overlook the public health messages about it. Based on a qualitative study on campaigns about organ donation, the article aims to give practical suggestions to prevent undesirable effects in public health communication. Methods The study provides a linguistic analysis of the messages about organ donation produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. Such a method enables us to understand who communicates what, to whom, how and what for, and gives us empirical data to discuss ethical concerns in relation to the effects of public health messages. Results The analysis shows that the messages, apart from those relying on the expertise of healthcare professionals, are based on the representation of lay persons. The latter strategy generates the depiction of imagined communities. Conclusions Beyond the usual concerns relating to organ donation (e.g., consent, altruism), the analysis of FOPH messages indicates that ethical issues in public health communication are grounded on three relational dimensions (intersubjectivity, cooperation and equity). Practice implications A procedure assessing the ethical concerns of public health communication in terms of social identities and relational consequences could identify and prevent problems relating to the undesirable effects of messages. Availability of data and materials The datasets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request