Development and Application of an Interdisciplinary Rapid Message Testing Model for COVID-19 in North Carolina

Development and Application of an Interdisciplinary Rapid Message Testing Model for COVID-19 in North Carolina

Introduction From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have sought to develop evidence-based messages to reduce COVID-19 transmission by communicating key information to media outlets and the public. We describe the development of an interdisciplinary rapid message testing mod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health reports (1974) Vol. 136; no. 4; pp. 413 - 420
Main Authors: Bartels, Sophia M., Gora Combs, Katherine, Lazard, Allison J., Shelus, Victoria, Davis, C. Hunter, Rothschild, Allison, Drewry, Maura, Carpenter, Kathryn, Newman, Emily, Goldblatt, Allison, Dasgupta, Nabarun, Hill, Lauren M., Ribisl, Kurt M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-07-2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Aged
Asthma
Cancer
Communication
Consumer Health Information
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 - transmission
Disease control
Disease transmission
Disease Transmission, Infectious - prevention & control
Emergencies
Female
Health promotion
Health Promotion - methods
Humans
Information dissemination
Interdisciplinary aspects
Interdisciplinary research
Interdisciplinary studies
Iterative methods
Male
Messages
Middle Aged
Model testing
Norms
North Carolina
Pandemics
Physical Distancing
Polls & surveys
Public health
Public Health Methodology
Social behavior
Social distance
Social distancing
Subgroups
Young Adult
North Carolina
United States > US
COVID-19
message testing
emergency preparedness
social distancing
rapid design
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Summary:Introduction From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have sought to develop evidence-based messages to reduce COVID-19 transmission by communicating key information to media outlets and the public. We describe the development of an interdisciplinary rapid message testing model to quickly create, test, and share messages with public health officials for use in health campaigns and policy briefings. Methods An interdisciplinary research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assembled in March 2020 to assist the state health department in developing evidence-based messages to influence social distancing behaviors in the state. We developed and iteratively executed a rapid message testing model; the components of the 4-step model were message creation, survey development, survey administration, and analysis and presentation to health department officials. The model was executed 4 times, each during a 7-day period in April and May, and each subsequent survey included new phrasing and/or messaging informed by the previous week’s survey. A total of 917 adults from North Carolina participated in the 4 surveys. Results Survey participants rated messages focused on protecting oneself and others higher than messages focused on norms and fear-based approaches. Pairing behaviors with motivations increased participants’ desire to social distance across all themes and subgroups. For example, adding “Protect your grandmother, your neighbor with cancer, and your best friend with asthma,” to messaging received a 0.9-point higher score than the base message, “Stay 6 feet apart from others when out in public.” Practice Implications Our model to promote social distancing in North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic can be used for rapid, iterative message testing during public health emergencies.
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ISSN:0033-3549
1468-2877
DOI:10.1177/00333549211018676