Understanding responses to government health recommendations: public perceptions of government advice for managing the H1N1 (swine flu) influenza pandemic
Understanding responses to government health recommendations: public perceptions of government advice for managing the H1N1 (swine flu) influenza pandemic
Objective: To explore people's beliefs, perceptions, reasoning, and emotional and contextual factors that may influence responses to government recommendations for managing flu pandemics.
Methods: Eleven focus groups were conducted with a purposive sample of 48 participants. Participants were invited to discuss their perceptions of the H1N1 pandemic and government advice on recommended actions for managing the H1N1 pandemic.
Results: Thematic analysis showed that participants were skeptical about the feasibility and appropriateness of government recommendations for managing the H1N1 pandemic. They expressed doubts about self-diagnosis and concerns regarding the perceived effectiveness and costs of recommendations to stay home if unwell and get vaccinated.
Conclusions: Government advice is a specialized form of health communication with members of the public. People engage in an active process of evaluating government advice in terms of its credibility, feasibility and costs. To improve future pandemic preparedness, attempts should be made to elicit and address common doubts and concerns people have about following recommended advice.
Practical implications: This study provides preliminary information on potential concerns and issues that could be addressed in future pandemic communications. Further research is needed to elicit and address the public perspective so that the impact of future pandemics may be reduced.
health communication, pandemic, self-diagnosis, H1N1
413-418
Teasdale, Emma
f156de5f-e83e-40c0-aafa-0c95dd17aa80
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
December 2011
Teasdale, Emma
f156de5f-e83e-40c0-aafa-0c95dd17aa80
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Teasdale, Emma and Yardley, Lucy
(2011)
Understanding responses to government health recommendations: public perceptions of government advice for managing the H1N1 (swine flu) influenza pandemic.
Patient Education and Counseling, 85 (3), .
(doi:10.1016/j.pec.2010.12.026).
(PMID:21295434)
Abstract
Objective: To explore people's beliefs, perceptions, reasoning, and emotional and contextual factors that may influence responses to government recommendations for managing flu pandemics.
Methods: Eleven focus groups were conducted with a purposive sample of 48 participants. Participants were invited to discuss their perceptions of the H1N1 pandemic and government advice on recommended actions for managing the H1N1 pandemic.
Results: Thematic analysis showed that participants were skeptical about the feasibility and appropriateness of government recommendations for managing the H1N1 pandemic. They expressed doubts about self-diagnosis and concerns regarding the perceived effectiveness and costs of recommendations to stay home if unwell and get vaccinated.
Conclusions: Government advice is a specialized form of health communication with members of the public. People engage in an active process of evaluating government advice in terms of its credibility, feasibility and costs. To improve future pandemic preparedness, attempts should be made to elicit and address common doubts and concerns people have about following recommended advice.
Practical implications: This study provides preliminary information on potential concerns and issues that could be addressed in future pandemic communications. Further research is needed to elicit and address the public perspective so that the impact of future pandemics may be reduced.
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Published date: December 2011
Keywords:
health communication, pandemic, self-diagnosis, H1N1
Organisations:
Psychology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 356351
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/356351
ISSN: 0738-3991
PURE UUID: f92853de-ab43-48dc-9be4-8424c42f832a
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Date deposited: 24 Sep 2013 13:06
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:34
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