April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: Message Framing of Public Service Announcements during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Public service announcements (PSAs) are being used by public health authorities to communicate with the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Targeting large audiences, PSAs are information campaigns to raise the public’s awareness of an issue and promote possible solutions. Analyzing the message framing of PSAs is a vital way to understand the goals of PSAs. Framing theory argues that message senders define, interpret, and solve problems utilizing different frameworks to organize information. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the content and goals of PSAs are largely unknown. As the virus has evolved and the public’s informational needs have changed, so have the content of PSAs. To fill the research gap and understand how COVID-19 PSAs were framed, we explored two research questions: (1) what are the main messages of COVID-19-related PSAs; (2) how did messaging change over time? Method This study employed the constant comparative method to analyze videos of PSAs found on YouTube published from January 31, 2020 - January 31, 2021. Search terms, including “COVID,” “public service announcement,” and “PSA” were used to find videos launched by medical institutions, governmental departments, news agencies, and non-profit organizations. Each full video represented the unit of analysis. The messages delivered in each PSA were coded and documented in Qualtrics. Results The total number of videos evaluated was 140. RQ1:Five main messages were identified: (1) informing citizens of the newest information about COVID, including governmental actions, symptoms of being infected, high-risk groups, and medical capacity; (2) encouragement to follow COVID-related instructions such as wearing masks, practicing social distancing, washing hands, staying at home, and getting the COVID vaccine; (3) addressing public concerns via discussing with health authorities about rumors about the vaccine and long-term effects of vaccine; (4) describing the severity of acquiring COVID-19 via detailing what happened in hospitals and how doctors felt; (5) expressing gratitude to citizens, community members, and healthcare providers, and encouraging everyone to continue working together. RQ2: The data indicated that the main message of the PSAs aired at the beginning of COVID was to update information in March. One month later, messaging changed to encourage citizens to follow protective instructions. In July, some PSAs not only promoted prevention measures but also updated the latest information – COVID was ubiquitous in the community, which was straining medical resources. From April 2020 to December 2020, the dominant messaging strategy was encouraging citizens to follow prevention measures. In January 2021, PSA videos promoted COVID-19 vaccinations. Conclusion Health communicators intended not only to disseminate information about protective behaviors but also to provide mental health support or ease citizens’ anxiety via their PSAs. As time went by, the goal of announcements changed from updating information to promoting behavioral change. The findings suggested that similar to HIV/AIDS-related PSAs, COVID-related announcements also encouraged audiences to get tested and to adopt protective behaviors. However, inconsistent with the studies on HIV/AIDS-related PSAs, only a limited number of COVID-related PSAs were targeted at high-risk groups.