Study shows hurdles of Swiss corona communication
Researchers from the University of Lucerne and Swiss Paraplegic Research have studied public authority communication during the Corona pandemic. The study shows what the biggest hurdles in communication were for the health offices and how the offices should prepare for the next pandemic.
The researchers interviewed 25 people from Swiss health offices about the barriers they faced in COVID-19 communication with the public. These were employees of cantonal health offices and the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) who held communication roles in the first two Corona waves in 2020 and 2021. The study is part of a research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and led by Prof. Dr. Sara Rubinelli and Dr. Nicola Diviani, which aims to provide important insights for communication in future health crises (see box).
Inert management as an obstacle
According to the study, the greatest difficulties for the authorities were caused by the fact that too little experience and skills were available to communicate quickly and effectively with the public in the event of a crisis. The greatest gaps in knowledge were in crisis communications and in dealing with social media. In addition, even trained communications personnel were often not experienced enough to communicate continuously, quickly and precisely at the same time.
According to the researchers, another burden for the health offices was that there were simply too few staff to deal with the massive increase in the population's need for information. Rigid administrative structures were also an obstacle to communication. On the one hand, these structures did not allow the necessary resources such as money and personnel to be reallocated. On the other hand, fixed processes made it difficult to try out creative and flexible approaches to communication. According to the researchers, such experiments could have provided important insights into effective communication strategies during the crisis.
Dealing with Fake News
In addition to internal hurdles, social factors also made effective crisis communication by the authorities difficult. A major challenge for public health agencies was the complexity of the scientific situation surrounding COVID-19. Administrations had to convey uncertain and transient scientific findings to the public in clear messages. Public trust in science and institutions, perceived by respondents as low or declining, was an additional difficulty. The rapid spread of half-truths and fake news via social media also contributed to health departments' communication difficulties.
What is important for the next crisis
To better prepare government health communications for future crises, more specific training and additional communications staff would be needed, the study's authors said. That's not enough, however. A cultural change is needed: everyone involved in communication planning must become aware of the central role of communication in the health sector. This is the only way to ensure the effectiveness of health communication for future crises.
Publication: Sara Rubinelli, Clara Häfliger, Maddalena Fiordelli, Alexander Ort and Nicola Diviani; Institutional Crisis Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland. A Qualitative Qtudy of the Experiences of Representatives of Public Health Organizations "Patient Education and Counseling", September 2023 issue.
