RAPID: Trust in Public Health Information During a Pandemic

Computer and Information Science and Engineering - This research in crisis informatics will provide evidence of how the general population is reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic and share the findings broadly with healthcare workers to help them limit the negative effects on society and encourage citizens to take appropriate actions to reduce the spread of the disease. Over the longer term, the results will contribute to improvements in our preparedness for future pandemics. It will increase our understanding of the role that social media plays in public understanding of and response to a pandemic, and also will advance work on message framing within health informatics and health communication. Some of the results could help society and government prepare for potential contingencies such as bioterrorism and other unexpected large-scale emergencies. During a global health crisis, public health interventions such as quarantine and isolation can limit the spread of the virus, reducing morbidity and mortality while reducing the impact on the health care system. Health education interventions, particularly via social media, are critical for ensuring that the general public heeds recommendations from experts. Given the generally low e-health literacy of older adults, and in light of the increased impact that pandemics have on older adults, as is particularly the case for COVID-19, ensuring that older adults and their caregivers understand and trust public health information is critical for saving lives.

This mixed-method study will allow quick and safe collection of data from people currently experiencing a pandemic, to understand the factors that influence trust in current public health information interventions in a real setting. Its online data collection will not risk the health of researchers or participants, seeking a stratified sample including a significant number of older adults and employing a robust recruitment strategy. The work will be done in three rigorous but swift stages: (1) a survey, including a battery of previously validated instruments along with open-ended questions specific to the current COVID-19 pandemic; (2) an experiment to compare the effectiveness of different health messages; and (3) a set of recommendations that can guide public health officials in deciding how to tailor messages for particular audiences based on factors such as age and e-health literacy. Human subjects perform differently in real versus hypothetical scenarios, so the best time to evaluate how people react to public health interventions during a pandemic is when a very significant one is in process. COVID-19 represents a rare opportunity to collect data from people while they are experiencing the phenomenon under investigation. This project will identify factors that influence trust in public health information, and how public health information interventions can be tailored to be effective for people of various ages.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.