Emergency Response and Risk Communication Effects of Local Media during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Study Based on a Social Media Network

Utilizing social media for community risk communication in megacities: analysing the impact of WeChat group information interaction and perception on communication satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai

BACKGROUND

Against the backdrop of the global public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant disparities in the supply and demand of risk information related to public health crises, posing severe challenges to risk governance in megacities. Shanghai, China, introduced community WeChat groups for community communication, effectively facilitating the dissemination and response of grassroots information and providing a new path for interactive governance in the community.

METHODS

This study collected 1006 questionnaires from residents of 350 communities in Shanghai through an online survey between June 10 and July 10, 2022. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the impact of different participants (including the community, core residents, and the combined community and core residents) on community risk communication, perceived communication quality, and dissemination themes related to COVID-19 on community communication satisfaction. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 core residents from different types of communities, focusing on the specific methods of risk communication through community WeChat groups and their ability to disseminate information, respond to, and solve problems.

RESULTS

Perceived information coverage and perceived response efficiency are significantly positively correlated with communication satisfaction. Notably, the speed of community information response has the greatest impact on communication satisfaction. Regarding COVID-19-related information dissemination themes, "community outbreaks, supplies, nucleic acids, outbreak prevention measures, and scientific content" all have a significant impact on communication effectiveness, with "nucleic acid testing information" having the greatest impact. Although the statistical data indicate that the participation of core residents in risk communication does not significantly affect communication satisfaction, it seems to be related to the size of the community, and the interview results further validate this conclusion.

CONCLUSION

In the future, grassroots communities should consider the affordances of social media, recognize the significant correlation between risk communication and grassroots trust, and formulate more detailed and targeted risk communication strategies. In particular, incorporating core residents into "semiformal" grassroots organizations can improve community service quality, thereby enhancing community resilience in the face of public health emergencies.

The relationship between young college students' recognition of national COVID-19 crisis governance capabilities and the improvement of national identity: the mediating role of online participation in public health critical events

Background

Improving the young college students' national identity is crucial for ensuring social stability and fostering development during public health critical events such as COVID-19. Young college students' recognition of national COVID-19 crisis governance capabilities can influence their national identity, and online participation in public health criticalevents may serve as a crucial role in shaping this intricate relationship. To investigate this possibility, the present study established an intermediary model to examine the impact of online participation in public health critical events on young college students' recognition of national COVID-19 crisis governance capabilities and improvement of national identity.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey study employed a convenience sampling method to investigate a total of 3041 young college students in China. The correlations between study variables were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. The mediation model was established using PROCESS Model 4 with 5000 bootstrap samples in SPSS. The bias-corrected bootstrap method provided statistical efficacy and identification interval estimation.

Results

Young college students' recognition of national COVID-19 crisis governance capabilities (r=0.729, P<0.001) and online participation in public health critical events (r=0.609, P<0.001) were positively correlated with improvement of their national identity. The relationship between these two factors was partially mediated by online participation in public health critical events (Indirect effect estimate=0.196, P<0.001).

Conclusion

Online participation in public health critical events played a mediating role in the association between college students' recognition of national COVID-19 crisis governance capabilities and the improvement of national identity. Our findings provide a novel intervention strategy for improving college students' national identity, which is to encourage their online participation in public health critical events.

Public trust of physicians in China improved since the COVID-19 pandemic Began

RATIONALE

Public trust in physicians had declined in China for decades before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline physicians have experienced high work volume despite a high risk of COVID-19 infection. The willingness of physicians to treat COVID patients with a high risk of exposure to the infection may have improved public trust in physicians.

OBJECTIVE

This study analyzes how public trust in physicians has changed since the pandemic started using a nationally representative survey.

METHODS

We used the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), with 179,123 respondents 10 years or older who were eligible to answer the question on public trust in physicians from 2012 to 2020. Public trust has been measured by an 11-point Likert scale. A quasi pre-post study design using a segmented regression impact model was used to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public trust in physicians.

RESULTS

At the start of the observation period, the average public trust score was 6.86 out of 10.00. The immediate unadjusted change of mean score for public trust during COVID-19 was significantly higher (Coef. = 0.361; 95% CI = 0.359, 0.364). Moreover, a significant increase in the unadjusted trend during the COVID-19 pandemic was observed in the mean score for public trust (Coef. = 0.005; 95% CI = 0.004, 0.006). The results were similar to the estimates obtained when we adjusted for demographic characteristics and health status.

CONCLUSIONS

The mean score for public trust increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study provides a new perspective on restoring public trust in physicians, a significant concern of the Chinese healthcare system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social and mainstream media helped to establish the "good doctor" image, which may have improved patients' trust in physicians. Improving health literacy through effective communication and education may help increase public trust in physicians.

Media Agenda and Press Conferences on COVID-19 in Mexico: An Analysis of Journalists' Questions

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen health communication in times of crisis. This study aims to analyze the media agenda of press conferences on COVID-19 in Mexico during the first two phases of the pandemic, based on journalists' questions. The study is based on framing theory. The method used was content analysis from a quantitative perspective. This method was explicitly applied to the final section of the conferences, which dealt with "questions from the press." The results show that at the beginning of the pandemic, the press was more interested in the government's management of the health crisis than in issues such as the prevention of the disease itself or the economic impact of the crisis on the country. Moreover, the main characteristic of the questions was that they were generally socially relevant. In conclusion, we found that in the media agenda of the Mexican conference, the frame of attribution of responsibility was prominent but in combination with the frames of conflict, human interest, morality, and economic consequences.