Risk communication
If you are already familiar with risk communication,
here are some quick links to information and resources on general
health communication, media
advocacy, entertainment
education, interactive
health communication and
THCU's 12-step
process.
Introduction
Risk communication is about helping people understand the nature
and seriousness of a risk so that they can make an informed decision
about how to deal with the risk. Ideally, risk communication is “an
interactive process of exchange of information and opinion among
individuals, groups, and institutions” (National Research Council,
1989).
The risk communication process may involve many types of messages
and processes. It might include, for example, newspaper articles
discussing the chance of falling victim to a violent crime, a doctor
explaining the chance of birth defects to prospective parents, emergency
response workers trying to evacuate an area as a severe storm approaches
or posters warning smokers about lung cancer. It may also be applied
to topics such as automobile safety, HIV/AIDS, hazardous chemical
waste sites, use of cell phones, medical procedures, restaurant food
safety.
Sometimes, public health practitioners are forced to respond to
public health emergency or crisis situations with risk communication
messages that may keep changing as new information becomes available.
Crisis and emergency risk communication is the effort by experts
to provide information to allow individuals to make the best possible
decisions about their well-being within very short time frames. (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002).
Since decisions that are made during a crisis are often irreversible,
and available information about the risk is often incomplete, risk
communication requires careful attention to proven principles and
practices. It is important to understand, however, that successful
risk communication, in particular crisis and emergency risk communication
“does not imply optimal risk decisions; it only ensures that decisions
are informed by best available knowledge” (National Research Council,
1989).
THCU resources
Risk Communication Web Conference: Session
Summary and Audio Files
In
March 2006, we enlisted the support of Vicki Freimuth, formerly
Director of Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (1996-2003). She currently teaches health and risk communication
at the University of Georgia. Vicki has a wealth of practical experience
with public health crises (including anthrax and SARS) and a strong
grounding in theoretical literature. During a one hour web conference,
she answered a series of questions, posed by participants, about
risk communciation. Audio files of these proceedings are now available
on our learning community. Just visit here to
listen to, read, or comment on her answers by individual question
or download the full
session notes here (PDF, 123kb) and the full audio here (MP3, 22.26mb). New June
1, 2006
The Update: Special issue
on risk communication
This issue of THCU's newsletter from fall 2000
provides an overview of risk communication along with information
on planning
risk communication
efforts, developing messages, and evaluating. It also contains
articles from Ontario experts, describing their lessons-learned from
local
experiences. (PDF 590kb) Click here to
view an excerpt: Tips to improve risk communication efforts." This
issue continues in a special
supplement.
Ontario Health Promotion E-mail Bulletin
The Ontario Health Promotion E-mail Bulletin (OHPE) is a free weekly
newsletter for people interested in health promotion produced
by the Ontario
Prevention Clearinghouse and THCU. We provide information on workshops,
conferences, job postings, projects, issues and resources. Risk communication
articles include "Risk
Communication: An Overview" (with its related resources and reader
responses) and
"Risk
Trade-Offs in Public Health Action: The West Nile Virus Example." Learn
how to search for more information in our archives here.
THCU
Literature Searches
When needed, we contract a wonderful librarian named Barbara Scott to do literature
searches on various topics that our clients ask us about. The requests from
the last couple of years are posted here.
Journals
of interest
This list, updated in 2003, indicates where journal contents of
interest to health promotion and health communication practitioners are
indexed and describes their related websites.
Non-THCU resources
The Peter Sandman Risk
Communication Web Site
Peter Sandman is an expert in the field of risk communications,
known particularly for his theory on hazard and outrage. His website includes
an archive of his web columns and other web articles in which he
discusses general health communication
principles and comments on specific risk communication issues in
the media, such as SARS and Mad Cow. His manual, “Risk
Communication, Risk Statistics, and Risk Comparisons: A Manual For
Plant Managers,”
created with Vincent T.
Covello and Paul Slovic, presents information on how to compare
risks and communicate risk-related numbers and statistics. It is
definitely worth a look. His article “Fear
Is Spreading Faster than SARS” — And So It Should!" is
also worth reading. In it, he provides a thoughtful critique of
some risk
communication efforts then offers principles for practice. New July
19, 2004
Improving
Risk Communication
If you’re looking for a
crash course in risk communications, Improving Risk
Communication by
the
National
Research
Council
is for you. It was published in 1989 but the content is still
very relevant. It is available online
for free. New July
19, 2004
Risk
Communication Bibliography
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has
an online, searchable Risk
Communication Bibliography, current as of September 2003. There
are over 650 listings including reports of experiments, theoretical
discussions, case histories,
how-to manuals, dissertations, and reviews. The bibliography
is not limited to cancer risks and it includes many articles
that
deal with
risk perception, even ones lacking any mention of communication. New July
19, 2004
Health Risk Communication Bibliography
The National Library of Medicine maintains
a series
of bibliographies on distinct areas of biomedicine.
They
are
available
free online,
in html or pdf. The one on Health
Risk Communication is current as of October 2000 and
consists of 847 non-annotated citations, organized into headings
such as Public
Understanding of Science and Models,
Techniques and Strategies of Risk Communication. Updated July
19, 2004
Emergency and Risk Communication Training
The Centres for Disease Control in
Atlanta offer training on emergency risk communication. The courses
are not available in
Canada,
but
you can access a substantial number of feature excerpts
online. For example, excerpts from
their crisis
and emergency communication course include topics such
as developing
messages that audiences will trust, getting
the information to the right media in the right form, and understanding
people in a crisis. The excerpts even include links to videos
of various experts speaking
on these topics. They also have a wonderful risk communication version
of their CDCynergy CD which presents the user with a step-by-step
detailed tutorial, case examples, a wealth of resources, diverse
media library, and a cumulative evaluation plan. The program also
provides the user with a link to a word processing template to aid
in writing a detailed intervention campaign. The CD can be ordered
online from the U.S.
Public Health Foundation Bookstore. Updated July
19, 2004
Psychological
Factors Influencing People’s Reactions to Risk Information
In this excellent online tutorial, Katherine A. McComas,
from the University of Maryland discusses reasons for understanding
people’s risk perceptions, how cognitive
“rules of thumb” influence how people evaluate risk, how risk perceptions
influence people’s concern about risk and how optimistic biases
influence how people react to risks. Check it out! New July
19, 2004
