How can mask-wearing in public be effectively increased? Institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) aim to improve global health. Through the use of effective strategies to communicate with the public, they could persuade people towards using face masks and prevent them from diseases. However, first, they need to face the difficulties of designing an effective message that can lead to such a persuasion. This includes certain operational tasks, like selecting credible sources, choosing a message strategy, and determining the optimal setting or channels through which the communication is to be delivered.
To help the WHO facing those difficulties, this paper will focus on persuasive communication strategies. To do so, the paper is structured as follows: In the first section, two different strategies to promote mask wearing in public worldwide will be provided. Then, in the second section, some basic considerations the WHO should make before adapting those strategies will be highlighted. Lastly, the paper will end with a brief summary.
By the end of 2019, an outbreak of severe pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). A few months later, the coronavirus has taken over the world and infected over 14 Million people worldwide, causing almost 600,000 people’s death. Therefore, the search for effective strategies to prevent people from getting COVID-19 is currently the primary goal of many countries’ governments. Because social distancing and a total lockdown are just short-term solutions, the need for alternative solutions is rising. According to Cheng et al. (2020), community-wide face mask wearing may help to slow down the outbreak of COVID-19. As shown by those researchers, this is due to the reduced emission of people’s respiratory droplets.
Table of Contents
1. Strategies for the WHO to Consider: Fear Appeals and Narratives
1.1 Fear Appeals with Efficacy Cues
1.2 Narrative Communication
1.3 Mixed Strategies
2. Considerations the WHO Should Make to Increase Mask Wearing in Public
2.1 The Public’s Belief in Science
2.2 Fake News and Social Bots
3. Discussion
Objectives & Core Topics
The primary objective of this paper is to identify and analyze persuasive communication strategies that the World Health Organization (WHO) can utilize to effectively increase the public adoption of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research question addresses the challenge of designing impactful public health messages amidst scientific skepticism and the spread of misinformation.
- Fear appeals as a persuasive health communication strategy.
- Narrative communication and the role of storytelling in health behavior changes.
- The influence of public belief and trust in scientific evidence.
- Challenges posed by fake news dissemination and social bot activities.
- Strategies for combining communication approaches to maximize public compliance.
Excerpt from the Book
Fear Appeals with Efficacy Cues
According to Witte (1992), fear appeals are persuasive messages that are designed to scare people by showing them the negative consequences that will occur when they don’t follow the communicated recommendations. In health and risk communication fear appeals are used to prevent individuals from potential noxious consequences of a specific behavior (Rogers & Deckner, 1975). In sum, the idea of fear appeals is the triggering of a cognitive impulse to avert the potential noxious consequence. This impulse then should lead to a change in attitude and behavior (Rogers & Deckner, 1975).
Although, the link between fear arousal and persuasion is widely researched, at first it seemed that there was an inconsistent or even contradictory empirical evidence of the effectiveness of fear appeals. Whilst some researchers (e.g. Beck, 1984) could confirm the positive effects of fear appeals on a person’s attitude, others claimed that they are ineffective (Kohn et al., 1982). To address this mixed evidence, Witte and Allen (2000) conducted a meta-analysis and showed that strong fear appeals combined with a low efficacy component can increase a persons perceived threat, which than leads to defensive responses and therefore to a rejection of the communicated recommendation. In contrast, if the fear appeal contains a high efficacy message, the opposite will show and a change in attitudes and behavior should occur. Consequently, fear appeals can be successfully used under the condition that they are combined with efficacy cues (Witte & Allen, 2000).
These findings are in line with a message design theory named The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) (Witte, 1992). The EPPM uses people’s perception of threat and efficacy to offer predictions about their responses to fear appeal messages. A fear appeal has to increase the perceived threat to the point that it is high enough to produce fear (Witte, 1992). But once the perceived threat gets too high, it can get bigger than the perceived efficacy, which is defined as „..beliefs about the effectiveness of the recommended response in deterring the threat’’ (Gore & Bracken, 2005, p. 29). As Witte (1992) stated, this then leads to fear control process causing a
Summary of Chapters
Strategies for the WHO to Consider: Fear Appeals and Narratives: This section evaluates two primary communication methods—fear appeals and storytelling—to determine their potential in fostering mask-wearing behaviors.
Considerations the WHO Should Make to Increase Mask Wearing in Public: This chapter analyzes external factors that influence the efficacy of health campaigns, specifically focusing on the critical role of scientific trust and the impact of digital misinformation.
Discussion: The final section synthesizes the findings, concluding that a mixed-strategy approach is most effective and emphasizing the need for further research to address the complexities of modern public health communication.
Keywords
COVID-19, World Health Organization, Public Health, Persuasive Communication, Fear Appeals, Narrative Communication, Mask Wearing, Efficacy Cues, Trust in Science, Fake News, Social Bots, Extended Parallel Process Model, Health Campaigns, Behavioral Change, Misinformation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The paper examines how the WHO can use specific persuasive communication strategies to encourage the public to wear face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Which specific strategies does the author analyze?
The research focuses primarily on two strategies: the use of fear appeals combined with efficacy cues and the application of narrative communication techniques.
What is the primary goal of the strategies discussed?
The goal is to move the target audience into a "danger control process," where they perceive the threat and adopt the recommended behavior (mask wearing) because they believe in its effectiveness.
Why is scientific trust crucial for the WHO?
Scientific trust is a critical resource for legitimizing public health decisions; if the public distrusts science or the WHO, they are less likely to follow health guidelines like wearing masks.
How do fake news and social bots impact health messaging?
They can confuse the public, disrupt the authenticity of information, and lead to distrust in the WHO, potentially causing health campaigns to fail.
What is a "mixed strategy" according to the paper?
A mixed strategy involves combining persuasive elements, such as narrative storytelling, with hard statistical evidence to increase the persuasiveness of health communication.
Why might fear appeals backfire?
If a fear appeal creates a threat that is too high without offering a clear, high-efficacy solution, the person may enter a "fear control process," leading to defensive rejection of the message.
Are print-based narratives effective?
Research suggests that print media is often less effective for narratives compared to audio or video, as the latter mediums better transport the audience into the story and evoke the necessary emotions.
- Quote paper
- Bettina Schneider (Author), 2020, Communication Strategies the WHO Can Use to Increase Mask Wearing in Public, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/1319389
