Emergency Physicians and Personal Narratives Improve the Perceived Effectiveness of COVID-19 Public Health Recommendations on Social Media: A Randomized Experiment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Containment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires the public to change behavior under social distancing mandates. Social media are important information dissemination platforms that can augment traditional channels communicating public health recommendations. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of COVID-19 public health messaging on Twitter when delivered by emergency physicians and containing personal narratives.

Methods

On April 30, 2020, we randomly assigned 2,007 U.S. adults to an online survey using a 2 × 2 factorial design. Participants rated one of four simulated Twitter posts varied by messenger type (emergency physician vs. federal official) and content (personal narrative vs. impersonal guidance). The main ou

SUBMITTER: Solnick RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7753341 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature