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A Qualitative Study to Inform the Development of a Practitioner-Focused Checklist to Build Trust, Address
Christina M Potter1, Vanessa Grégoire, Aishwarya Nagar
1Author Affiliations: Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Mss Potter, Nagar, Grégoire, Huhn, and Fink, and Mr Zhu and Dr Sell); Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Mss Potter, Nagar, Grégoire, Huhn, and Fink, Mr Zhu, and Dr Sell); Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (Health Security Track), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Mss Rivera and Sundelson); and Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Ms Jamison).
Building public trust in health is crucial for emergency response. This study offers practical strategies to combat misinformation and enhance risk communication, providing a checklist for health departments to improve preparedness.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Risk Communication
- Health Policy
Background:
- Declining trust in public health hinders emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR).
- Misinformation and disinformation exacerbate trust issues, limiting effective risk communication.
- Limited resources exist for practitioners to address these challenges proactively.
Purpose of the Study:
- To gather expert and practitioner insights on building public health trust.
- To identify strategies for combating misinformation during health emergencies.
- To improve risk communication practices in public health emergencies.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of 38 interviews and 8 focus groups with 100 participants across 21 states and D.C.
- Content analysis focused on experiences and lessons learned regarding trust, misinformation, and risk communication.
- Data collected from November 2022 to December 2023.
Main Results:
- Key themes included strengthening communication workforces, funding, and internal capabilities.
- Successful strategies involved partnerships with secondary messengers and modern engagement tactics.
- Addressing distrust requires health literacy, government transparency, and tailored communication approaches.
Conclusions:
- A checklist of 5 prioritized strategies was developed to build trust, counter misinformation, and improve risk communication.
- Health departments can utilize these recommendations for enhanced PHEPR.
- Proactive prioritization of communication resources in PHEPR plans is essential.
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