This mixed-method evidence synthesis drew on Cochrane methods and principles to systematically review literature published between 2003 and 2016 on the best social media practices to promote health protection and dispel misinformation during disasters. Seventy-nine studies employing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods on risk communication during disasters in all UN-languages were reviewed, finding that agencies need to contextualize the use of social media for particular populations and crises. Social media are tools that still have not become routine practices in many governmental agencies regarding public health in the countries studied. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook (and equivalents in countries such as China), need to be incorporated into daily operations of governmental agencies and implementing partners to build familiarity with them before health-related crises happen. This was especially observed in U.S. agencies, local government, and first responders but also for city governments and school administrations in Europe. For those that do use social media during health-related risk communication, studies find that public relations officers, governmental agencies, and the general public have used social media successfully to spread truthful information and to verify information to dispel rumors during disasters. Few studies focused on the recovery and preparation phases and on countries in the Southern hemisphere, except for Australia. The vast majority of studies did not analyze the demographics of social media users beyond their geographic location, their status of being inside/outside the disaster zone; and their frequency and content of posting. Socioeconomic demographics were not collected and/or analyzed to drill deeper into the implications of using social media to reach vulnerable populations. Who exactly is reached via social media campaigns and who needs to be reached with other means has remained an understudied area.

Key Takeaways Boil water notifications (BWNs) issued during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri were typically followed, especially in households with children present and those with higher income. Cascading failure of interconnected systems (such as power and drinking water) inhibited some individuals from being able to follow boil water guidance. Of the people who boiled their water following BWNs, more than 92% reported boiling it for 2 minutes or more.

No abstract

To answer the question, What are the best ways to communicate uncertainties to public audiences, at-risk communities, and stakeholders during public health emergency events? we conducted a systematic review of published studies, grey literature, and media reports in English and other United Nations (UN) languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Almost 11,500 titles and abstracts were scanned of which 46 data-based primary studies were selected, which were classified into four methodological streams: Quantitative-comparison groups; Quantitative-descriptive survey; Qualitative; and Mixed-method and case-study. Study characteristics (study method, country, emergency type, emergency phase, at-risk population) and study findings (in narrative form) were extracted from individual studies. The findings were synthesized within methodological streams and evaluated for certainty and confidence. These within-method findings were next synthesized across methodological streams to develop an overarching synthesis of findings. The findings showed that country coverage focused on high and middle-income countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, and the event most covered was infectious disease followed by flood and earthquake. The findings also showed that uncertainty during public health emergency events is a multi-faceted concept with multiple components (e.g., event occurrence, personal and family safety, recovery efforts). There is universal agreement, with some exceptions, that communication to the public should include explicit information about event uncertainties, and this information must be consistent and presented in an easy to understand format. Additionally, uncertainty related to events requires a distinction between uncertainty information and uncertainty experience. At-risk populations experience event uncertainty in the context of many other uncertainties they are already experiencing in their lives due to poverty. Experts, policymakers, healthcare workers, and other stakeholders experience event uncertainty and misunderstand some uncertainty information (e.g., event probabilities) similar to the public. Media professionals provide event coverage under conditions of contradictory and inconsistent event information that can heighten uncertainty experience for all.

Safe, clean water is necessary for health and well-being. Water issues affect minority and vulnerable populations at disproportionate rates, including the poor and racial and ethnic Ashleigh M. Day is a PhD candidate, Thomas C. Rumble Fellow, and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Ashleigh's research interests center around crisis, risk, organizational and health communication. Sydney O'Shay-Wallace is a PhD candidate and graduate research assistant in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University, as well as a fellow with the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development. She is a health and risk communication scholar whose work is centered around stigma communication in healthcare contexts. Her research focuses on how stigma is constructed in communication between healthcare workers and patients as well as among healthcare workers. Matthew W. Seeger (PhD, Indiana University) has been a faculty member and administrator at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan for over 30 years. He currently serves as dean for the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. Dean Seeger's research interests concern crisis and risk communication, health promotion and communication, crisis response and agency coordination, the role of media, including new media, in crisis, crisis and communication ethics, failure of complex systems and post-crisis renewal. He has worked closely with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on communication and the anthrax attack and on communication and pandemic influenza preparedness. Work with the CDC also includes assistance in developing the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework. He has also worked with the World Health Organization on developing risk communication guidance. Dr.