TABLE 3.
Characteristics of the articles included in the systematic review.
| Author’s name | Year | Article title | Type | Design | Finding focus of articles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent Covello | 2003 | Best practices in public health risk and crisis communication (Covello 2003) | Mixed methods | Literature review, content analysis | Stakeholder participation; Use of all communication channels; Observance of ethical standards; Feedback on people’s opinions and questions; Providing honest and transparent information; Completing the information vacuum; Non-confidentiality; Synchronising internal and external communication; Using graphic images; Skills training; Basic, intermediate and advanced communication |
| Terrence A. Maxwell | 2003 | The public need to know: emergencies, government organizations, and public information policies (Maxwell 2003) | Mixed methods | Case study | Study of public response in emergencies; Mutual trust between government and people; Empathy with people; Determining the level of authority and decision-making; Collection and processing and dissemination of information; Management of government emergency information, network features, understanding how issues are framed and information flows in units; Information flow responsibility; Information gateway responsibility issues |
| Mike Granatt | 2004 | On trust: Using public information and warning partnerships to support the community response to an emergency (Granatt 2006) | Qualitative | Document analysis | Having active communication before, during and after the accident; Providing evidence behind decisions; Ensuring that information is provided by credible sources; Integrity of information; Freedom of the media; Operational planning; Use of simple language; Exchange of lessons learned; Planning for media centres; Media accreditation schemes |
| John Hobbs, Anne Kittler, Susannah Fox, Bates | 2004 | Communicating health information to an alarmed public facing a threat such as a bioterrorist -attack (Hobbs et al. 2004) | Mixed methods | Literature review, content analysis | Effective communication between scientists and service providers and managers; Using traditional social media; Using the main website of responsible organisations; Determining alternative information sources; Increasing access to quality information; Developing transparent organisational communication protocols |
| Branden B. Johnson, Caron Chess | 2006 | From the inside out: Environmental agency views about communications with the public (Johnson & Chess 2006) | Qualitative | Content analysis | Develop a public communication plan; Implement a communication plan with public culture; Commitment of managers to implement the plan; Avoid politicisation in risk communication; Existence of knowledge and skills in managers and risk communication experts; Develop appropriate regulations for establishing risk communication; Establish regular communication with citizens |
| Marsha L. Vanderford, Teresa Nastoff, Jana L. Telfer and Sandra E. Bonzo | 2007 | Emergency communication challenges in response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Vanderford et al. 2007) | Mixed methods | Strategy analysis, content analysis | Up-to-date educational messages; Up-to-date information sites; Access to Internet, electricity and telephone infrastructure; Use of alternative communication channels; Localisation of communication measures; Analysis of audiences; Utilisation of health and educational communication capacity in local organisations |
| Ricardo J. Wray, Steven M. Becker, Neil Henderson, Deborah Glik | 2009 | Communicating with the public about emerging health threats: Lessons from the Pre-Event Message Development Project (Wray et al. 2008) | Qualitative | Formative research, focus group | Informing about public priority actions; Managing anxiety, fear, shock, anger and disbelief; Building trust in the government; Providing accurate and timely information; Addressing consistent information needs; Responding to the media; Coverage and emergency information |
| Bev J. Holmes, Natalie Henrich, Sara Hancock | 2009 | Communicating with the public during health crises: Experts’ experiences and opinions (Holmes et al. 2009) | Qualitative | Content analysis | Empowering people; Regularly updating the media; Changing attitudes and behaviours as a result of following general guidelines; Transmitting information about high-risk groups without stigmatising; Paying attention to ethical challenges in communication |
| Elaine Vaughan And Timothy Tinker | 2009 | Effective health risk communication about pandemic influenza for vulnerable populations (Vaughan & Tinker 2009) | Qualitative | Document analysis | Strategic planning for risk communication; Rumour management; Attention to psychological, social, cultural, health and socio-economic dimensions; Establishing step-by-step communication; Simple, feasible communication solutions; Interaction with social organisations, researchers and other individuals and agencies; Communication planning |
| Lenette Golding | 2010 | Training for public information officers in communication to reduce health disparities: A needs assessment (Golding & Rubin 2011) | Quantitative | Needs assessment survey | Launching a campaign, preparing a newsletter, brochure; Coordination within and between organisations; Developing working relationships with the media, civil and social organisations and the people; Monitoring the establishment of risk communication; Conducting risk communication manoeuvres; Allocating and providing resources; Using information technology |
| Seyed Hesam Seyedin and Hamid R. Jamali | 2011 | Health information and communication system for emergency management in a developing country, Iran (Seyedin & Jamali 2011) | Mixed methods | Qualitative analysis, literature review | Effective communication between employees and managers; Knowledge of key people; Effective collection of data and information; Development of standards and communication protocols; Use of information technology; Existence of advanced database; Existence of intelligent system for data collection; Comprehensive analysis of information for decision-making |
| Ezequiel M. Galarce, K. Viswanath | 2012 | Crisis communication: An inequalities perspective on the 2010 Boston water crisis (Galarce & Viswanath 2012) | Quantitative | Online survey | Determining reliable sources of information; Evaluating information sources by the recipients of the message; Using social networks; Preparing risk communication scenarios and training and practice; Reconstructing one’s thoughts and feelings |
| Felicia Mebane, Sarah Temin and Claudia F. Parvanta | 2014 | Communicating anthrax in 2001: A comparison of CDC information and print media accounts (Mebane, Temin & Parvanta 2003) | Qualitative | Content analysis | Dissemination of information– accuracy of objective information–conceptualisation of disaster communication–preparation of news reports for the public, television and Internet news sources–analysis of emergency communication performance–better cooperation between departments, sharing of trusted information and communication between different administrative levels |
| Petra Dickmann, A. McClelland, Gaya M. Gamhewage, Patricia Portela de Souza, Franklin Apfel | 2015 | Making sense of communication interventions in public health emergencies: An evaluation framework for risk communication (Dickmann et al. 2015) | Mixed methods | Qualitative analysis and literature review | Understanding the risk of officials and people; Institutionalising the risk communication process; Establishing coordination between risk communication components; Evaluating the process of collecting, reviewing and disseminating information; Communication and local coordination, national and international regions; Selecting reliable platforms and channels for disseminating information |
| Elena Savoia, Leesa Lin, Gaya M. Gamhewage | 2017 | A conceptual framework for the evaluation of emergency risk communications (Savoia et al. 2017) | Mixed methods | Literature review, content analysis | How and when to present policy change information with respect to mitigation strategies and social consequences, economic implications for the dissemination of information on public health threats; risk assessment findings into information and messages; system ability to use existing programmes; knowledge transfer to Beneficiary organisations |
| Matthew L. Spialek, J. Brian Houston | 2018 | The development and initial validation of the citizen disaster communication assessment (Spialek & Houston 2018) | Mixed methods | Systematic review, comprehensive survey | Using social media for documentation and education; Disaster communication ecology; Citizens’ communication; Encouraging people to correct rumours; Access warning messages; Expressing individual and organisational experiences; Considering horizontal communication between residents at the micro level; Formal pre-event communication strategies; Attention to mental health |
| Matthew W. Seeger, Laura E. Pechta, Simani M. Price, Keri M. Lubell | 2018 | A conceptual model for evaluating emergency risk communication in public health (Savoia et al. 2017) | Mixed methods | Literature review, content analysis | Provide emergency risk communication messages from various channels, including social media and websites, websites; direct questions; increase message coordination to increase stability; information coherence; implementation of guidelines; information trust |
| Pradeep Sopory, Ashleigh M. Day, Julie M. Novak | 2019 | Communicating uncertainty during public health emergency events: A systematic review (Sopory et al. 2019) | Mixed methods | Multiplemethods, evidence synthesis | Actively generate information to reduce uncertainty; Complete information gaps; Pay attention to personal networks; Respond to alerts; Disseminate accurate information through networks of physicians, nurses, community leaders; Regular information about event progress through mass media |
| Zeinab Bagheri, Tahere Dehdari, Masoud Lotfizadeh | 2020 | Psychometrics of emergency risk communication checklist in public health sector (Bagheri, Dehdari & Lotfizadeh 2020) | Quantitative | Factor analysis | Identification of media outlets to the public, stakeholders and partner organisations; Development of an action plan for information and communication with the media; Existence of specific paths and responsibilities for information group staff; Coordination with responsive teams; Accurate assessment of information needs of media, partner and public organisations |
| Natalie Bernard, Abdul Basit, Ernesta Sofija, Jessica Lee, Shanon Rutherford | 2021 | Analysis of crisis communication by the Prime Minister of Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bernard et al. 2021) | Qualitative | Content analysis | Empathic behaviour of officials with the people; Clarification of the current situation; Compilation of key messages of public education before the crisis; Report of actions; Training of leaders and risk communication specialists |
| Hui Zhang, Yingxiang Li, Chris Dolan, Zhijun Song | 2021 | Observations from Wuhan: An adaptive risk and crisis communication system for a health emergency (Zhang et al. 2021) | Qualitative | Ethnography | Holding press conferences, online telephones for answering; providing specialised information platform; communication support system; using artificial intelligence software; using experts in press conferences; online and offline communication support systems; public opinion management; using adaptive information system |
| Dionne Mitcham, Morgan Taylor, Curtis Harris | 2021 | Utilizing Social Media for Information Dispersal during Local Disasters: The Communication Hub Framework for Local Emergency Management (Mitcham et al. 2021) | Mixed methods | Systematic review and qualitative analysis | Use of social media platforms; Maintain a manageable control domain; Use of social media messaging model; Determine communication framework; Facilitate external and internal communication; Select appropriate media channels |
| Ratchadaporn Papwijitsil, Pigunkaew Sinam, Mathudara Phaiyarom | 2021 | Factors Related to Health Risk Communication Outcomes Among Migrant Workers in Thailand during COVID-19 (Papwijitsil et al. 2021) | Quantitative | Case study | Paying attention to the demographic information of the audience; Using different information sources (experts; community members; mass and social media); Understanding the common interests in the community; Access to communication infrastructure; Using supportive resources; Paying attention to the health of the community; Creating flexibility in communication processes |
| Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah, Celine Ng, Abdul Matiin Wan | 2021 | Effective communication at different phases of COVID-19 prevention: Roles, enablers and barriers (Mohd Hanafiah et al. 2021) | Quantitative | Commentary | Nonbombardment of information; Ensuring the acceptance of public health messages; Scientific communication and culture-building; Combating false information; Identifying and managing false information; Filling gaps with scientific language; Filling the gap of risk perception between professionals and nonspecialists |
| Krithika Venkatraman and Anand Manoharan | 2021 | Public engagement as the fifth dimension of outbreak communication: Public’s perceptions of health communication during COVID-19 in India (Venkatraman & Manoharan 2021) | Mixed methods | Qualitative analysis | Creating awareness, two-way communication and encouraging people to accept government recommendations; Creating value for the general public; Aligning risk communication with the people; Planning; Program updating; Promising; Creating two-way communication mechanisms |
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.