Mindfulness and risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in spring 2020 offered an opportunity to examine the impact of mindfulness theory as governments responded. Mindful organizations do not rely on routine ways and are open to new ideas and perspectives in problem solving. Mindfulness involves analyzing new situations and openness to information. This study examines how well mindful planning, conducted in 2006 by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), matched public responses to the 2020 pandemic.

Public meetings were held in 2006 to determine acceptability of a series of control measures such as altering work schedules and cancelling large gatherings in the case of a novel pandemic. In 2020, an online survey was conducted of 803 participants during initial implementation of the measures and compared to responses from 2006 to ascertain the effectiveness of mindful planning.

Chi-square analysis showed no significant differences on acceptance of five community control measures across geographic regions.

Failure of officials to consider the insights of mindful planning efforts resulted in mindless reactions. These results highlight how vital it is for organizations dealing with high-risk public health issues to follow a mindful approach throughout to reduce negative public health impact. This study also fills a gap in the research on mindfulness by analyzing the outcome of mindful planning in real-life. Limitations of the study include non-random online sampling, timeliness of the data gathered at an early stage of pandemic spread and lack of comparable gendered demographic variables.