An Appraisal of Communication Practices Demonstrated by Romanian District Public Health Authorities at the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Misinformation about medication during the COVID- 19 pandemic: A perspective of medical staff

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals had to face numerous challenges during the pandemic, their professional activity being influenced not only by the virus, but also by the spread of medical misinformation. In this regard, we aimed to analyze, from the perspective of medical staff, the way medical and non-medical information about the virus was communicated during the pandemic to encourage the development of future research or interventions in order to raise awareness about the way misinformation affected medical staff.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

The study was conducted on Romanian healthcare professionals. They were asked to answer to a questionnaire and the sample of the research includes 536 respondents. The findings revealed that most respondents stated that information about alternative treatments against the virus affected the credibility of health professionals, and that younger professionals believed to a greater extent that trust in doctors was affected. The research also showed that respondents were well informed about the drugs used in clinical trials in order to treat the virus.

CONCLUSIONS

Healthcare professionals declared that the spread of misinformation regarding alternative treatments, affected their credibility and the relationship with their patients. Healthcare professionals had knowledge about the drugs used in clinical trials, and they acknowledged the role of social media in spreading medical misinformation. However, younger professionals also believed that social media could be used to share official information about the virus.

Understanding the Scientific Topics in the Chinese Government’s Communication about COVID-19: An LDA Approach

The communication of scientific topics can play a key role in the fight against misinformation and has become an important component of governments’ communication regarding COVID-19. This study reviewed the Chinese government’s COVID-19 information sources and identified the patterns of science communication models within them. A corpus of science-related content was collected and coded from 1521 news briefings announced by the Chinese government. An LDA (latent Dirichlet allocation) topic model, correlation analysis, and ANOVA were used to analyze the framing of the scientific topics and their social environmental characteristics. The major findings showed the following: (1) The frames in the Chinese government’s communication of scientific topics about COVID-19 had three purposes—to disseminate knowledge about prevention and control, epidemiological investigations, and the public’s personal health; to make the public understand scientific R&D in Chinese medicine, enterprises, vaccines, treatment options, and medical resources; and to involve citizens, communities, and enterprises in scientific decision making. (2) The frames were correlated with the public and media concerns. (3) The frames varied with the different levels of officials, different types of government agencies, different income regional governments, and different severity levels of the epidemic. (4) The topics concerning sustainability science were more correlated with public and media concern. In addition, we propose several suggestions for building sustainable communication approaches during the pandemic.

Designing the Well-Being of Romanians by Achieving Mental Health with Digital Methods and Public Health Promotion

Taking care of mental health is a state of mind. Amid the challenges of the current context, mental health has become one of the problems with the greatest impact on citizens and the evolution of any economy. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have become more anxious, solitary, preoccupied with themselves, and depressed because their entire universe has changed, by restricting their social and professional life; the increase in concern caused by a possible illness of them or those close to them made to isolate themselves. Two qualitative (group and in-depth interviews) and one survey-based quantitative research were carried out, which allowed the quantification of the opinions, perceptions, and attitudes of Romanians regarding the effectiveness of policies for the prevention and treatment of depression. Quantitative research revealed that most of the subjects had never participated in a mental health assessment, and a quarter of them had visited a mental health specialist more than two years ago. Based on the results, proposals were elaborated, which have been addressed both to the specialists from the Ministry of Health and to those from the academic environment, that may have an impact on the elaboration of some public mental health programs.

Students' Wellbeing during Transition from Onsite to Online Education: Are There Risks Arising from Social Isolation?

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to activities in many fields, including education and lifestyle. Major changes have taken place in the education system, where specific activities migrated suddenly from onsite to online. As a result, this period has witnessed an increased interest in impact studies that analyse the perceptions of the actors involved in the educational process. Based on the survey data (N = 665), the perceptions of the students in Romanian universities with regard to the effects of online education during the pandemic on their wellbeing were analysed. The empirical apparatus-SEM analysis-reached the following conclusions: the students' wellbeing was increased under the traditional education system; the economic crisis has caused concern, and a decrease in their wellbeing; their contamination fear is moderate to low, and does not influence their wellbeing; they have been discouraged in terms of their personal development during the pandemic, and their wellbeing has suffered as a result; the role of institutions is extremely important, given that the students' ability to study online depends on the universities' efficiency in implementing the online system.

A Citywide 'Virus Testing': Chinese Government's Response to Preventing and Controlling the Second Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2

Containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is a daunting challenge globally. China, as well as a handful of other countries, has, for the most part, contained it by implementing strict policies. Wuhan's citywide virus-testing program presents a way forward in preventing and controlling the uncertainty, anxiety, instability and complexity it faces over the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. Inarguably, the health crisis requires time-tested strategies and tactics for coordinating governments' and social entities' response to the health crisis, with a goal toward having and ensuring sustained effectiveness. Because of a possible recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, the Prevention and Control Headquarters of Wuhan on COVID-19 launched a massive virus testing of Wuhan's 11 million residents; it was completed within 10 days. In light of this unprecedented mass testing, this study applies the situational crisis communication theory to analyze this massive virus-testing process and the mechanisms involved to contain SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan. While many countries still have partial lockdowns, the second outbreak in Wuhan was an indication of what awaited all SARS-CoV-2-stricken countries post-lockdowns and after community restrictions had been lifted. Therefore, the recently implemented Wuhan control mechanism (in cities, districts and townships) may become a hortatory guide to other world regions as they contend with and consider appropriate measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and to ensure public safety.

Capturing the Interplay between Risk Perception and Social Media Posting to Support Risk Response and Decision Making

This research aims to capture the interplay between risk perception and social media posting through a case study of COVID-19 in Wuhan to support risk response and decision making. Dividing users on Sina Weibo into the government, the media, the public, and other users, we address two main research questions: Whose posting affects risk perception and vice versa? How do different categories of social media users’ posts affect risk perception and vice versa? We use Granger causality analysis and impulse response functions to answer the research questions. The results show that from one perspective, the government and the media on Sina Weibo play critical roles in forming and affecting risk perceptions. From another perspective, risk perception promotes the posting of the media and the public on Sina Weibo. Since government’s posting and media’s posting can significantly enhance the public’s perceptions of risk issues, the government and the media must remain vigilant to provide credible risk-related information.

Engagement of Government Social Media on Facebook during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Macao

Government social media is widely used for providing updates to and engaging with the public in the COVID-19 pandemic. While Facebook is one of the popular social media used by governments, there is only a scant of research on this platform. This paper aims to understand how government social media should be used and how its engagement changes in prodromal, acute and chronic stages of the pandemic. We collected 1664 posts and 10,805 comments from the Facebook pages of the Macao government from 1 January to 31 October 2020. Using word frequency and content analysis, the results suggest that the engagement was relatively low at the beginning and then surged in the acute stage, with a decreasing trend in the chronic stage. Information about public health measures maintained their engagement in all stages, whereas the engagement of other information was dropping over time. Government social media can be used for increasing vigilance and awareness in the prodromal stage; disseminating information and increasing transparency in the acute stage; and focusing on mental health support and recovery policies in the chronic stage. Additionally, it can be a tool for controlling rumors, providing regular updates and fostering community cohesion in public health crises.