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PRI and Journal of Health Communication Release Special Issue Exploring Strategies for Pandemic-Related Communication

Jul 7, 2023 | News

The NYC Pandemic Response Institute (PRI) and the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, have collaborated to release a special issue entitled Leaving No One Behind: Opportunities for improving future pandemic-related communication. The open-access special issue highlights research and commentaries that acknowledge the failures and successes of current health communication and suggest new approaches for future pandemics.

PRI is led by Columbia University with its key partner, the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH). The special issue was curated by the PRI Communications Team, led by CUNY SPH faculty. The team works to create and support platforms that disseminate accurate, evidence-based information during a crisis and to increase public resistance to misinformation and disinformation campaigns.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed serious shortcomings in the delivery of accurate and trusted health communication. However, the crisis also helped strengthen community outreach systems.

“We witnessed a 21st century pandemic tear through a nation armed with programs and policies from the 20th century,” CUNY SPH Associate Professor Chris Palmedo, guest editor for this special issue, writes in the foreword. “It became clear that the systems of disseminating effective pandemic-related information are complicated and delicate, and we found out that the process of spreading misleading information is powerful and often obscure.”

Drawing on topics and themes including the lived experiences of some of the hardest hit communities in the nation, the publication highlights the dynamic and quickly changing landscape of pandemic communication. Though much of the research is New York based, the lessons learned and actionable strategies proposed in the articles below can be applied around the world.

What Did We Learn About Pandemic Communication?
P. Christopher Palmedo
Advancing Community-Based Participatory Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Methods Commentary on the Lessons Learned from Working with Community Data Collectors on a Refugee Health Disparities Study
Lindsey Disney, Rukhsana Ahmed & Stephanie Carnes
The lived experience in one of the hardest hit communities in New York City (Harlem), and one of the least vaccinated for COVID-19. Some Lessons Learned.
George A. Dawson
The Need for Systems Approaches for Precision Communications in Public Health
Bruce Y. Lee, Danielle Greene, Sheryl A. Scannell, Christopher McLaughlin, Marie F. Martinez, Jessie L. Heneghan, Kevin L. Chin, Xia Zheng, Ruobing Li, Laura Lindenfeld & Sarah M. Bartsch
What Were the Information Voids? A Qualitative Analysis of Questions Asked by Dear Pandemic Readers between August 2020-August 2021
Rachael Piltch-Loeb, Richard James, Sandra S. Albrecht, Alison M. Buttenheim, Jennifer BEAM Dowd, Aparna Kumar, Malia Jones, Lindsey J. Leininger, Amanda Simanek & Shoshana Aronowitz
Comparison of Current Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccination in New York City and the US Nationally
Ayman El-Mohandes, Katarzyna Wyka, Trenton M White, Wafaa M El-Sadr, Lauren Rauh, Ashwin Vasan, Danielle Greene, Kenneth Rabin, Scott C Ratzan, Simran Chaudhri, Spencer Kimball & Jeffrey V Lazarus
Vaccine Confidence in NYC: Thematic Analysis of Community Stories
Olusimbo Ige, Zoe Sakas, Monica Kang, Corrinne Green & Daphne Brown
COVID-19 Communication Campaigns for Vaccination: An Assessment with Perspectives for Future Equity-Centered Public Health Efforts
Alexandra Quinn, Alexandre White, Jodie Abbatangelo-Gray, Susan McCarron, Tanja Schub & Scott C. Ratzan
How Attributes of Place Threaten Community Trust in the American South: Opportunities for Improving Pandemic-Related Communication
Lauren A. Cafferty, Lillie D. Williamson, LaKesha N. Anderson, Samantha R. Jones, Justin X. Moore, Reginald D. Benson Jr, Ebony B. Whisenant, Candace Clinton, Nikeshia LaShaundra Lawson & Christy J.W. Ledford
Localizing COVID-19 Misinformation: A Case Study of Tracking Twitter Pandemic Narratives in Pennsylvania Using Computational Network Science
Iuliia Alieva, Dawn Robertson & Kathleen M Carley
Critical Dynamics in Black and Latino Parents’ Perceptions of Childhood COVID-19 Vaccination: How the “Middle” Moves
Christine Whang, Kathleen A. Lynch, Terry Huang & Emma K. Tsui
Knowledge Gaps, Cognition and Media Learning: Designing Tailored Messages to Address COVID-19 Communication Inequalities
SOROYA JULIAN McFARLANE, Bora Yook & Rebekah Wicke

PRI and the Journal of Health Communication are proud to emphasize that the commentaries and investigations in this issue are some of the first to be conducted in a post-pandemic era.

“As we face a pandemic of health misinformation and disinformation, the need for concise targeted communication is increasingly apparent,” says PRI Co-Lead and CUNY SPH Dean Ayman El-Mohandes. “In this special edition, we are proud to present some of the innovative research our colleagues have spearheaded on pandemic-related communication.”

Explore the full issue at the Journal of Health Communication.

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