Lessons from the Faith-Driven Response to the West africa Ebola Epidemic<sup>†</sup>

Greyling, Christo; Maulit, Jolly Ann; Parry, Susan; Robinson, David; Smith, Sally; Street, Anne; Vitillo, Robert J.

doi:10.1080/15570274.2016.1215829

Cited by 30 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Future research should extend the study to other spokespersons from different social spheres, such as leaders within the faith sector. Indeed, our data show that religiosity is one of the highest correlates of message sharing ( r = 0.23, p = 3.21x10 -146 , Fig 2 ), and research shows that enlisting religious leaders during the West African Ebola crisis proved critical in slowing transmission through the revision of safe burial practices [ 40 ]. Given the sudden, worldwide spread of COVID-19 outside of China in March 2020, one might also argue that Dr. Fauci simply filled a vacuum of trust at the time of the study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effect of spokesperson attribution on public health message sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021

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It is urgent to understand how to effectively communicate public health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous work has focused on how to formulate messages in terms of style and content, rather than on who should send them. In particular, little is known about the impact of spokesperson selection on message propagation during times of crisis. We report on the effectiveness of different public figures at promoting social distancing among 12,194 respondents from six countries that were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of data collection. Across countries and demographic strata, immunology expert Dr. Anthony Fauci achieved the highest level of respondents’ willingness to reshare a call to social distancing, followed by a government spokesperson. Celebrity spokespersons were least effective. The likelihood of message resharing increased with age and when respondents expressed positive sentiments towards the spokesperson. These results contribute to the development of evidence-based knowledge regarding the effectiveness of prominent official and non-official public figures in communicating public health messaging in times of crisis. Our findings serve as a reminder that scientific experts and governments should not underestimate their power to inform and persuade in times of crisis and underscore the crucial importance of selecting the most effective messenger in propagating messages of lifesaving information during a pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effect of spokesperson attribution on public health message sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021

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“…Second, our results extend prior research on the role of trusted sources in encouraging health behaviors. While trusted sources have been shown to be helpful during the Ebola and COVID-19 crises ( 7 , 8 ), no prior causal evidence establishes the influence of elites on Americans’ COVID-19 vaccine attitudes, nor the potential role of political elites in reducing polarization of health behaviors. Our results are also relevant for effectively intervening in other countries in which vaccine intentions are politically polarized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elite party cues increase vaccination intentions among Republicans

Pink

Chu

Druckman

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

117

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Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires motivating the vast majority of Americans to get vaccinated. However, vaccination rates have become politically polarized, and a substantial proportion of Republicans have remained vaccine hesitant for months. Here, we explore how endorsements by party elites affect Republicans’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions and attitudes. In a preregistered survey experiment (n = 1,480), we varied whether self-identified Republicans saw endorsements of the vaccine from prominent Republicans (including video of a speech by former President Donald Trump), from the Democratic Party (including video of a speech by President Joseph Biden), or a neutral control condition including no endorsements. Unvaccinated Republicans who were exposed to the Republican elite endorsement reported 7.0% higher vaccination intentions than those who viewed the Democratic elite endorsement and 5.7% higher than those in the neutral control condition. These effects were statistically mediated by participants’ reports of how much they thought Republican politicians would want them to get vaccinated. We also found evidence of backlash effects against Democratic elites: Republicans who viewed the Democratic elite endorsement reported they would be significantly less likely to encourage others to vaccinate and had more negative attitudes toward the vaccine, compared with those who viewed the Republican elite endorsement or the neutral control. These results demonstrate the relative advantage of cues from Republican elites—and the risks of messaging from Democrats currently in power—for promoting vaccination among the largest vaccine-hesitant subgroup in the United States.

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“…During the West African Ebola crisis, for example, religious leaders across faiths in Sierra Leone advocated for practices such as handwashing and safe burials. The engagement of the faith-based sector was considered a turning point in the epidemic response 145 . Therefore, finding credible sources for different audiences who are able to share public health messages might prove effective.…”

Section: Conspiracy Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%