Multi-directional communication between decision makers and environmental health researchers: a qualitative inquiry.

It has been three decades since key leaders gathered to pave a path toward healthier and more just environments and recommendations were made to improve communication between scientists and community stakeholders who can influence decision making. Since that time, community engaged research has flourished while building the capacity of researchers to engage in the work of making change to those environments has lagged. The purpose of this study was the development of guidelines to inform interactions between researchers and decision makers and influencers who participate in the policy change process. This community engaged, pragmatic and iterative inquiry includes insight from a review of existing resources and key informant interviews. Resulting guidelines were piloted, and formative evaluation by community stakeholders informed and resulted in refinement to the guidelines. Strategies for communicating and disseminating scientific evidence are presented as well as tactics that sensitise researchers to the nuances of policy makers' realities so they may serve as a resource for dealing with complex information and decisions. We provide tactics and archived resources in an on-line toolkit that we have cultivated over time to foster effective communication between scientists and those who have a stake in ensuring that decisions are evidence informed.

Conferências Nacionais de Saúde: estudo sobre aderência de propostas de política de comunicação aos princípios de comunicação pública / National Health Conferences: study on adherence of proposals on communication policy to the principles of public communication / Conferencias Nacionales de Salud: estudio sobre la adhesión de las propuestas de política de comunicación a los principios de la comunicación pública

Este artigo apresenta resultados preliminares de uma investigação sobre a aderência de propostas de criação de uma política de comunicação aos princípios de comunicação pública no Sistema Único de Saúde. As proposições foram discutidas no âmbito das Conferências Nacionais de Saúde realizadas entre 2003 e 2019. O estudo abrangeu a avaliação de documentos e entrevistas em profundidade com fontes-chave com atuação no controle social e que participaram das conferências. Buscaram-se também subsídios teóricos que tratam das temáticas da comunicação pública e da comunicação em saúde para embasar a discussão sobre a elaboração de uma política de comunicação voltada para o SUS. Observa-se falta de ancoragem clara das propostas das conferências com relação aos princípios da comunicação pública, bem como a não adesão do governo federal à pauta, mesmo nas gestões afinadas com ideais democráticos, princípios de participação social e atuação no interesse público.

This article presents the preliminary results of an investigation into the adherence of the proposals to create a communication policy for the Unified Health System, according to the principles of public communication. Those proposals were held between 2003 and 2019 within the National Health Conferences scope. The study covered the evaluation of documents and in-depth interviews with key sources working in social control and who had participated in conferences. It also included theoretical subsidies that deal with the themes of public communication and communication and health to support the discussion on the creation of a communication policy aimed at the SUS. The results showed a lack of clear anchorage of the conference proposals in principles of public communication, and the non-adherence of the federal government to the agenda, even during governments aligned with democratic ideals, principles of social participation, and action on the public interest.

Este artículo presenta resultados preliminares de una investigación sobre la adhesión de las propuestas de creación de una política de comunicación del Sistema Único de Salud a los principios de la comunicación pública. Las proposiciones fueron discutidas en las Conferencias Nacionales de Salud, entre 2003 y 2019. El estudio abarcó la evaluación de documentos y entrevistas en profundidad con fuentes que trabajan en el control social y con participación en las conferencias. Se buscaron subsidios teóricos que tratan de los temas de comunicación pública y comunicación y salud para apoyar la discusión sobre la elaboración de una política de comunicación dirigida al SUS. Hay una falta de anclaje de las propuestas de la conferencia en principios de comunicación pública, así como la falta de adhesión del gobierno federal, incluso en gestiones en sintonía con los ideales democráticos, principios de participación y acción social centrado en el interés público.

A conceptual analysis of public opinion regarding genome research in Japan.

In the 20 years since the completion of the Human Genome Project, the gap between scientific development and public understanding of genome research has been widening. While genome research has been increasingly utilized for social and clinical purposes in a multifaceted manner, this has resulted in an increase in the potential risks associated with genomic data. In this context, our study aims to consider the nature of public perceptions of genome research, primarily by using as a case study the results of previous public surveys relevant to donations for social benefits in Japan. We explored certain types of awareness, attitude, and intention (A-A-I) in such surveys and discussed the resultant key findings through the cultural transmission framework. Reframing the public's response toward genome research based on A-A-I analysis and behavioral science may contribute to developing more systematic communication approaches with the public. With a view to establishing such approaches, our perspective suggests some new insights to discuss the science-society gap in genome research internationally.

Comunicação pública da ciência e da saúde no pós-pandemia / Post-pandemic science and health public communication / Comunicación pública de la ciencia y de la salud tras la pandemia

A pandemia de covid-19 demonstrou a relevância da comunicação pública da saúde e da ciência, mas também evidenciou suas fragilidades. No Brasil, como em outras partes do mundo, a desinformação foi institucionalizada, com grave impacto na saúde dos cidadãos. Após a pandemia, coloca-se o desafio de estruturar políticas públicas de comunicação para combater a desinformação e de fortalecer a carreira de comunicador público como suporte a essas políticas. A mobilização de organizações da sociedade civil ligadas ao tema produziu um projeto de Lei Geral da Comunicação Pública que tramita na Câmara dos Deputados. Também permitiu incluir o estabelecimento de uma política de comunicação para o Sistema Único de Saúde entre as diretrizes aprovadas pela 17ª Conferência Nacional de Saúde

The covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the relevance of public health and science communication, but also highlighted its weaknesses. In Brazil, as in other parts of the world, disinformation has been institutionalized, with a serious impact on the health of citizens. After the pandemic, there is a challenge of structuring public communication policies to combat disinformation and to strengthen the career of public communicator to support these policies. The mobilization of civil society organizations linked to these issues produced a public communication bill which is currently discussed in the Chamber of Deputies. It also made it possible to include the establishment of a communication policy for the Unified Health System among the guidelines approved by the 17th National Health Conference

La pandemia de covid-19 demostró la relevancia de la comunicación pública de la salud y de la ciencia, pero también puso de relieve sus debilidades. En Brasil, como en otras partes del mundo, la desinformación ha sido institucionalizada, con un grave impacto en la salud de los ciudadanos. Después de la pandemia, queda el desafío de estructurar políticas públicas de comunicación para combatir la desinformación y también de estructurar la carrera de comunicador público para apoyar estas políticas. La movilización de organizaciones de la sociedad civil vinculadas al tema ha producido un proyecto de Ley General de Comunicación Pública que se encuentra en trámite en la Cámara de Diputados. También permitió incluir el establecimiento de una política de comunicación para el Sistema Único de Salud entre las directrices aprobadas por la XVII Conferencia Nacional de Salud

Global prevalence and content of information about alcohol use as a cancer risk factor on Twitter.

OBJECTIVES: Alcohol use is a major risk factor for several forms of cancer, though many people have limited knowledge of this link. Public health communicators and cancer advocates desire to increase awareness of this link with the long-term goal of reducing cancer burden. The current study is the first to examine the prevalence and content of information about alcohol use as a cancer risk on social media internationally. METHODS: We used a three-phase process (hashtag search, dictionary-based auto-identification of content, and human coding of content) to identify and evaluate information from Twitter posts between January 2019 and December 2021. RESULTS: Our hashtag search retrieved a large set of cancer-related tweets (N = 1,122,397). The automatic search process using an alcohol dictionary identified a small number of messages about cancer that also mentioned alcohol (n = 9061, 0.8%), a number that got small after adjusting for human coded estimates of the dictionary precision (n = 5927, 0.5%). When cancer-related messages also mentioned alcohol, 82% (n = 1003 of 1225 examined through human coding) indicated alcohol use as a risk factor. Coding found rare instances of problematic information (e.g., promotion of alcohol, misinformation) in messages about alcohol use and cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Few social media messages about cancer types that can be linked to alcohol mention alcohol as a cancer risk factor. If public health communicators and cancer advocates want to increase knowledge and understanding of alcohol use as a cancer risk factor, efforts will need to be made on social media and through other communication platforms to increase exposure to this information over time.

Operationalizing an open-source dashboard for communicating results of wastewater-based surveillance.

COVID-19 saw the expansion of public health tools to manage the pandemic. One tool that saw extensive use was the public health dashboard, web-based visualization tools that communicate information to users in easy-to-read graphics. Dashboards were widely used prior to the pandemic, but COVID-19 saw expanded use and development. To date, dashboards have become an important part of public health surveillance programs around the world helping decisionmakers use data to evaluate different public health metrics including caseloads, hospitalizations, and environmental surveillance results from testing wastewater. Wastewater surveillance provides community-based, spatially relevant data on disease trends within communities to assess the scale of infection in a region, which makes it an excellent candidate for dashboard development to improve public health. We developed a dashboard for New York State's wastewater surveillance program using open-source, reproducible web programming. The dashboard we developed has been used for the COVID-19 response in New York, and our methods can be adapted to other programs and pathogens. We provide:•descriptions of how the dashboard was developed and maintained•specific guidance for reproducing our dashboard in other areas and for other pathogens•fully reproducible code with step-by-step instructions for researchers and professionals to make their own data dashboards.

Silences and Omissions in Reporting Epidemics in Russian and Soviet Prisons, 1890-2021.

Penitentiary systems serve as breeding grounds for all kinds of diseases. Drawing upon new archival materials, this article examines the history of the management and reporting of epidemics in the Russian prison system from the late Imperial period to the present day. We use the case studies of cholera (1892-1893), typhus (1932-1933), and pulmonary tuberculosis (the 1990s) to examine how the general political and social conjuncture at different times affected the response of prison authorities to epidemics to show that, notwithstanding major shifts in society and polity, there was continuity in the management of epidemics by prison authorities in the long twentieth century. However, there were fundamental discrepancies in the way late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia reported epidemiological emergencies in prisons. We argue that Russia's tumultuous past has reinforced the tendency among the Russian penal administration towards a lack of transparency that has persisted to the present day, in relation to the latest, COVID-19, epidemic.

Arquivos marginais e suas trajetórias subalternas em manicômios e nas prisões / Marginal archives and their subaltern trajectories in psychiatric hospitals and in the prisons / Archivos marginales y sus trayectorias subalternas en manicomios y en las prisiones

Em entrevista à Reciis, Viviane Trindade Borges conta sobre sua trajetória acadêmica norteada pelas práticas, histórias de vida e experiências em instituições de internamento/confinamento ­ como manicômios, leprosários e prisões ­ que ela estuda por meio de arquivos nelas encontrados. Para a pesquisadora, os documentos provenientes desses lugares "de sequestro", como se refere Foucault a essas instituições, dizem respeito a memórias não reivindicadas e a eventos controversos marcados por traumas e violações de direitos humanos. Em suas pesquisas, a historiadora traz à tona trajetórias obscuras, anônimas e trágicas de sujeitos colocados à margem, ao descaso e levados ao esquecimento. Na entrevista, a cientista ressalta a exigência de um posicionamento ético na recuperação de histórias reveladas em arquivos marginais, de modo que não se limite à estigmatização e/ou à exotização; comenta sobre o seu entendimento do conceito de arquivo marginal e a importância da comunicação histórica que permite ativar memórias, interagir e elaborar visões sobre o passado que ainda reverberam no presente. Viviane Trindade Borges é Professora Associada da Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Udesc)

In an interview given to Reciis, Viviane Trindade Borges tells us about her academic trajetory guided by her practices, life histories and experiences in places where minors are not allowed to leave for a period of time and in others confinement institutions ­ as psychiatric hospitals, lazar houses and prisons ­ which she studies by means of archives found in them. For the researcher, the documents coming from the "kidnapping institutions", as Foucault refers to these places, relate to unclaimed memories and to controversial events characterized by traumas and violations of humain rights. Through her researches, the historian brings up gloomy, anonymous, tragic and marginal trajectories of subjects placed on the margins of the society, treated with disregard and led to the forgetfulness. In the interview, the scientist emphasizes the ethical behaviour required for the recovery of stories revealed in marginal archives, so that it is not limited to stigmatisation and/or exoticisation; she comments on her understanding of the concept of marginal archives and on the importance of historical communication that enables activating memories, interacting and elaborating images about the past that stil reverberate in present. Viviane Trindade Borges is Associate Professor at UDESC ­ Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina State University)

En una entrevista concedida a la Reciis, Viviane Trindade Borges nos cuenta acerca de su trayectoria académica guiada por sus prácticas, historias de vida y experiencias en instituciones de encierro/confinamiento ­ como manicomios, lazaretos y prisiones ­ que estudia a través de archivos encontrados en ellas. Para la investigadora, los documentos provenientes de estas "instituciones de secuestro", como Focault se refiere a esos lugares, son concernientes a memorias no reivindicadas y a eventos controvertidos caracterizados por traumas y violaciones de derechos humanos. En sus investigaciones, la historiadora descubre trayectorias oscuras, anónimas, trágicas y marginales de sujetos puestos al margen, tratados con desprecio y entregues al olvido. En la entrevista, la científica resalta el deber de una posición ética en la recuperación de las historias reveladas en archivos marginales, para que no se limite a la estigmatización y/o a la exotización; comenta su forma de entender el concepto de archivo marginal y la importancia de la comunicación histórica que permite activar memorias, interactuar y elaborar visiones sobre el pasado que aún resuenan en el presente. Viviane Trindade Borges es Profesora Asociada en la UDESC ­ Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Universidad del estado de Santa Catarina)

Global political leaders during the COVID-19 vaccination: Between propaganda and fact-checking.

The advent of COVID-19 vaccination meant a moment of hope after months of crisis communication. However, the context of disinformation on social media threatened the success of this public health campaign. This study examines how heads of government and fact-checking organizations in four countries managed communications on Twitter about the vaccination. Specifically, we conduct a content analysis of their discourses through the observation of propaganda mechanisms. The research draws on a corpus of words related to the pandemic and vaccines in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States (n = 2,800). The data were captured for a five-month period (January-May 2021), during which COVID-19 vaccines became available for elderly people. The results show a trend of clearly fallacious communication among the political leaders, based on the tools of emphasis and appeal to emotion. We argue that the political messages about the vaccination mainly used propaganda strategies. These tweets also set, to a certain extent, the agendas of the most relevant fact-checking initiatives in each country.

Comunicação pública e qualidade da informação em tempos de pandemia de covid-19: um estudo sobre os boletins epidemiológicos publicados pela Prefeitura de Frutal, Minas Gerais / Public communication and quality of information in times of covid-19 pandemic: a study on the epidemiological bulletins published by Municipality of Frutal, Minas Gerais / Comunicación pública y calidad de la información en tiempos de pandemia de covid-19: un estudio sobre los informes epidemiológicos publicados por la Municipio de Frutal, Minas Gerais

A pesquisa em que se baseia este artigo apresenta uma discussão de fronteira entre as temáticas comunicação pública e qualidade da informação. Assumiu como objeto de estudo as edições do boletim epidemiológico com dados da transmissão do novo coronavírus, publicadas em um dos canais oficiais digitais da Prefeitura Municipal de Frutal, cidade localizada no Triângulo Mineiro, estado de Minas Gerais. Com os objetivos de analisar não só o conteúdo dos boletins epidemiológicos, para discutir as práticas de comunicação pública empregadas no período estudado, mas também os atributos de qualidade da informação presentes no produto informacional, foi feito um monitoramento das postagens realizadas por ela, no Facebook, de abril de 2020 a abril de 2022.

O pensamento complexo da comunicação organizacional: sobre identidade, imagem-conceito e gestão de imagem da ciência e do SUS / The complex thinking of organizational communication: on identity, concept-image and image management of science and of SUS / El pensamiento complejo de la comunicación organizacional: sobre identidad, imagen-concepto e gestión de la imagen de la ciencia y del SUS

A vivência num caminho de empregado de 'chão de fábrica' de grande empresa a gestor de uma pequena empresa, junto às teorias de comunicação, contribuíram para as reflexões acadêmicas no campo da comunicação organizacional do cientista e professor Rudimar Baldissera. Em entrevista à Reciis, o professor mobiliza termos frequentemente associados à comunicação e às organizações, tais como imagem-conceito, identidade e públicos, e problematiza o prisma das decisões e dos objetivos da gestão em perspectiva da comunicação para a partilha, o diálogo, a ação/retroação e as perturbações geradas pelos diversos públicos que são constitutivos das organizações. Por meio de reflexões a partir do paradigma da complexidade, Baldissera discorre sobre o 'tecer' e 'retecer'da imagem das instituições de saúde, da ciência, das universidades públicas e do SUS, no contexto contemporâneo marcado pela emergência sanitária da covid-19. Destaca a comunicação organizacional como um campo consolidado na construção da crítica e do conhecimento na área da comunicação e informação. Rudimar Baldissera é professor associado do Departamento de Comunicação ­ Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação (Fabico), e professor e pesquisador do PPGCOM/UFRGS

Along with communication theories, the experience acquired during the path from 'factory floor' employee to manager of a small business contributed to the academic reflections done by scientist and professor Rudimar Baldissera in the organizational communication field. In an interview to Reciis, the professor mobilizes terms frequently associated with communication and organizations, such as concept-image, identity and audience, and problematizes the prism of decisions and objectives of management in perspective of communication for sharing, dialogue, action/feedback and disturbances generated by the different publics that are constitutive of organizations. Through reflections from the paradigm of complexity, Baldissera discusses the 'weaving' and 'reweaving' of the image of health institutions, science, public universities and SUS, in the contemporary context marked by the health emergency of covid-19. He highlights organizational communication as a consolidated field in the construction of criticism and knowledge in communication and information field. Rudimar Baldissera is an associate professor at the Department of Communication ­ Faculty of Library Science and Communication (Fabico), and professor and researcher at PPGCOM/UFRGS

La experiencia en un camino de empleado en el 'piso de fábrica' de una gran empresa a gerente de una pequeña, junto con las teorías de la comunicación, contribuyó a las reflexiones académicas en el campo de la comunicación organizacional del científico y profesor Rudimar Baldissera. En entrevista con Reciis, el profesor moviliza términos frecuentemente asociados con la comunicación y las organizaciones, como ima-gen-concepto, identidad y públicos, y problematiza el prisma de las decisiones y objetivos de la gestión en la perspectiva de la comunicación para compartir, el diálogo, la acción/retroalimentación y las perturbaciones generadas por los diversos públicos que son constitutivos de las organizaciones. A través de reflexiones desde el paradigma de la complejidad, Baldissera discute el 'tejer' y 'retejer' de la imagen de las institucio-nes de salud, la ciencia, las universidades públicas y el SUS, en el contexto contemporáneo marcado por la emergencia sanitaria de la covid-19. Destaca la comunicación organizacional como un campo consolidado en la construcción de la crítica y el conocimiento en el campo de la comunicación y información. Rudimar Baldissera es profesor asociado del Departamento de Comunicación de la Facultad de Biblioteconomía y Comunicación (Fabico) y docente e investigador del PPGCOM/UFRGS

The public needs more: The informational and emotional support of public communication amidst the Covid-19 in China.

Public communication is critical for responding to disasters. However, most research on public communication is largely focused on its informational support function, overlooking the emotional support that could equally offer. This study takes the lead to investigate their separate impacts. In particular, the variable public engagement, which is a function of the number of Shares, Likes, and Comments in a particular post, is introduced to benchmark the effect of public communication. Besides, considering the evolving nature of the crisis, their dynamic impacts across different COVID-19 pandemic stages are examined. Data from Dec 2019 to Jul 2020 were collected from 17 provincial government-owned social media (Weibo) accounts across COVID-19 in China with a Natural Language Processing-based method to compute the strengths of informational support and emotional support strength. An econometric model is then proposed to explore the impacts of two supports. The findings are twofold: the impact of emotional support on public engagement is empirically confirmed in the study, which is not in lockstep with the informational support; and their impacts on public communication are dynamic rather than static across stages throughout the crisis. We highlighted the importance of emotional support in public engagement by deriving its impact separately from informational support. The findings suggest incorporating both social supports to create stronger public communication tactics during crises.

At the intersection of two countries: A comparative critical analysis of COVID-19 communication in Australia and New Zealand.

This research provides critical, comparative insights into the public communication responses employed by Australia and New Zealand during the first twelve months following the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic. The two nations share a similar socio-political and cultural context, but despite being highlighted by the international media as early success stories, their public communication responses to the pandemic showed noteworthy differences. Borrowing from cultural studies, this paper applies the circuit of culture model and offers a snapshot in time that reinforces the importance of socio-cultural awareness when communicating intricate and challenging information. It supports the idea that a range of effective solutions to complex communication challenges are possible and may result in a similar outcome, including strengthened identities and national pride during uncertain times.

Perceptions of laboratory animal veterinarians regarding institutional transparency.

Institutions using animals for research typically have a veterinarian who is responsible for the veterinary care programme and compliance with regulatory obligations. These veterinarians operate at the interface between the institution's animal research programme and senior management. Veterinarians have strong public trust and are well positioned to share information about animals used for scientific purposes, but their perspectives on sharing information with the public are not well documented and their perceptions of transparency may influence how institutional policies are developed and applied. The objective of our study was to analyse the perceptions of institutional transparency among laboratory animal veterinarians working at different universities. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were used to describe perceptions of 16 attending veterinarians relating to animal research transparency. Three themes were drawn from the interviews: (i) reflections on transparency; (ii) reflections on culture; and (iii) reflections on self. Veterinarians reflected on their personal priorities regarding transparency and when combined with barriers to change within the institutions, sometimes resulted in reported inaction. For example, sometimes veterinarians chose not to pursue available opportunities for change at seemingly willing universities, while others had their initiatives for change blocked by more senior administrators. The sharing of information regarding the animals used for scientific purposes varied in how it was conceptualised by attending veterinarians: (i) true transparency; communication of information for the sake of openness; (ii) strategic transparency; attempt to educate people about animal research because then they will support it; (iii) agenda-driven transparency; selective release of positive stories to direct public opinion; and (iv) fearful non-transparency; not communicating any information for fear of negative opposition to animal research. Transparency was not perceived as an institutional priority by many of the veterinarians and a cohesive action plan to increase transparency that involves multiple universities was identified as a promising avenue to overcome existing barriers.

How might the public contribute to the discussion on cattle welfare? Perspectives of veterinarians and animal scientists.

Veterinarians and animal scientists can provide leadership on issues relevant to farm animal welfare, but perceptions of these stakeholders regarding societal expectations for welfare are underexplored. This study involved five focus groups of veterinarians and animal scientists (n = 50 in total), recruited at a European meeting focused on cattle welfare. Participants were invited to discuss topics related to cattle welfare and were prompted with questions to elicit their perspectives of public concerns and how the participants felt public input should be included when developing solutions. Discussions were moderated by trained facilitators, audio-recorded and transcribed, and transcripts analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Ultimately, four primary themes were developed: (1) The public as concerned; (2) The public as ignorant; (3) The public as needing education; and (4) The public as helper or hindrance. Groups identified specific farming practices viewed as concerning to the public, including lack of pasture access, behavioural restriction, and painful procedures. Discussions about these concerns and the role of the public were often framed around the assumption that the public was ignorant about farming, and that this ignorance needed to be rectified through education. Participants were generally ambivalent in their beliefs regarding public contributions to solutions for farm animal welfare but suggested that consumers should pay more for products to help shoulder any costs of welfare improvements.

Clarifying the Ethics and Oversight of Chimeric Research.

This article is the lead piece in a special report that presents the results of a bioethical investigation into chimeric research, which involves the insertion of human cells into nonhuman animals and nonhuman animal embryos, including into their brains. Rapid scientific developments in this field may advance knowledge and could lead to new therapies for humans. They also reveal the conceptual, ethical, and procedural limitations of existing ethics guidance for human-nonhuman chimeric research. Led by bioethics researchers working closely with an interdisciplinary work group, the investigation focused on generating conceptual clarity and identifying improvements to governance approaches, with the goal of helping scholars, funders, scientists, institutional leaders, and oversight bodies (embryonic stem cell research oversight [ESCRO] committees and institutional animal care and use committees [IACUCs]) deliver principled and trustworthy oversight of this area of science. The article, which focuses on human-nonhuman animal chimeric research that is stem cell based, identifies key ethical issues in and offers ten recommendations regarding the ethics and oversight of this research. Turning from bioethics' previous focus on human-centered questions about the ethics of "humanization" and this research's potential impact on concepts like human dignity, this article emphasizes the importance of nonhuman animal welfare concerns in chimeric research and argues for less-siloed governance and oversight and more-comprehensive public communication.

Marijuana Content on Digital Media and Marijuana Use among Young People in the United States.

Health behavior theory establishes that exposure to media messages about a topic influences related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Marijuana-related messages proliferating on digital media likely affect attitudes and behavior about marijuana. Most research studying marijuana-related media effects on behavior relies on self-reported survey measures, which are subject to bias; people find it difficult to recall timing, frequency, and sources of messages. We calculated an exogenous measure of exposure to marijuana-related messages on digital media based on emerging public communication environment (PCE) theory. Aggregated online searches and social media posts related to marijuana for a given place reflect the marijuana-related PCE, where people are exposed to and engage with messages from multiple sources. Exogenous measures overcome bias in self-reported exposure and outcome data: simultaneity bias and endogeneity. The PCE reflects both potential exposure and relative importance of the topic in the local community, which may influence real-world marijuana use. Using 2017 Twitter and Google Search data, we measured the marijuana-related PCE to quantify where opportunities for exposure to marijuana-related posts were high and examined relationships between potential exposure and current marijuana use among youth and young adults in 2018. We found that marijuana-related online search and tweeting at the media market level are associated with offline marijuana use, controlling for demographics and state marijuana policy. The marijuana-related digital media environment may reflect and/or influence youth and young adult marijuana use. Social media and online search data offer platforms to monitor the marijuana-related PCE and supplement survey data to study media exposure and marijuana use behavior.

Perceived risks of transit use during COVID-19: Correlates and strategies from a case study in El Paso, Texas.

Introduction: COVID-19 has led to public transportation ridership plummeting and thus created fiscal crises and operational difficulties for transit operators. Although transit services remain essential for people with limited access to alternative transportation modes, the unfavorable public view keeps potential riders from transit. The public transportation industry is in dire need of restoring trust and recovering ridership. Methods: In July 2020, we conducted an online survey in El Paso, Texas, to investigate COVID-19 risk perceptions related to transit use. A total of 712 valid responses, consisting of 613 English and 99 Spanish responses, were included in the analyses. Results and conclusions: Descriptive and bivariate analyses showed many choice transit riders changed their mobility patterns by abandoning public transportation. Survey participants reported that social distancing and cleaning services were very important in encouraging them to return to transit. The free fare policy was also a stimulus for the existing riders to continue their transit use during the pandemic. The multivariable analysis results highlighted that public knowledge plays a vital role in COVID-19 risk perceptions and transit use decisions. Major opportunities exist in terms of public awareness campaigns that inform the public about the COVID-19 related safety measures transit operators are implementing. We further suggest some practical strategies to enhance public communication and help transit operators recover from COVID-19. This study offers timely insights for public policy stakeholders, including transit agencies, to better utilize their resources to protect public health, regain public confidence, and bring passengers back.

Use of Twitter Amplifiers by Medical Professionals to Combat Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Social media is an important tool for disseminating accurate medical information and combating misinformation (ie, the spreading of false or inaccurate information) and disinformation (ie, spreading misinformation with the intent to deceive). The prolific rise of inaccurate information during a global pandemic is a pressing public health concern. In response to this phenomenon, health professional amplifiers such as IMPACT (Illinois Medical Professional Action Collaborative Team) have been created as a coordinated response to enhance public communication and advocacy around the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Novel Method to Examine Public Communications and Policy Representations: A Case Example of Hawai'i's Perspective on Juveniles Involved in Commercial Sexual Activity.

Public policy may be strongly influenced by the language used in the media to discuss issues. This language can create a policy image or policy representation that frames the issue as being either deserving or undeserving of policy aid. This policy representation, in turn, may influence the direction of public policies proposed to address the issue. This article presents the development of a codebook for systematically examining the language used in the media to create these policy representations. Framing theory and a qualitative content analysis approach were used to develop the codebook, using a 4-part taxonomy: problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and policy recommendation. The issue of juveniles involved in commercial sexual activity in Hawai'i was used as a case study to guide creation of the codebook. Pilot study data were drawn from Hawai'i's local newspapers and from testimony submitted to the Hawai'i State Legislature during 1985-2016. A set of coding schemes built on the 4-part taxonomy was based on the dichotomous attitude of juvenile criminality and juvenile exploitation. Pilot data indicated that juveniles are increasingly being represented as victims of sexual exploitation (newspaper, 45%; testimony, 90%), and the presence of thematic elements in the media strongly correlated with this overall shift. A key lesson learned was the ability of the codebook to capture episodic and thematic elements, which may have strong implications for those concerned with populations that are exploited, politically marginalized, and in need of policy aid. Another key lesson learned was the strength of the codebook to collect quantitative and qualitative data that may lie outside carefully constructed dichotomous frames (eg, a policy representation of juveniles as survivors) and the media's prevailing narratives (eg, the experience of sexual minority juveniles).