Public Health Office, Local Health Unit 2 Marca Trevigiana, 31100 Treviso, Italy.
Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Feb 1;17(3):911. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17030911.
Risk perception has a significant impact on decisions people make when facing a threat: a mismatch between actual hazard and perceived risk can lead to inappropriate behaviours and suboptimal compliance to recommended public health measures. The present study was conducted in the aftermath of a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak that occurred in 2019 in a primary school in Italy. The aim was to evaluate the impact of communication measures implemented by local health authorities (including face-to-face meetings between LHAs and the local population, weekly press announcements, implementation of a telephone hotline and of an information desk, and social media communication), on risk perception among parents of schoolchildren and school staff, and to identify factors related to a change in risk perception before and after the said activities. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to parents of schoolchildren ( = 846) and to school staff ( = 70). Participants were asked about the level of risk they had perceived at two distinct times: when they first became aware of the outbreak and following implementation of communication activities. A significant reduction of perceived risk was found in both groups ( < 0.001) following the communication activities. The largest reduction was found among participants who reported having appreciated the meetings with the LHA healthcare staff. Our findings suggest that keeping an open approach, explaining the actual threat to the population and adapting communication to different listening skills, are essential for health authorities to successfully manage a public health emergency.
实际危害与感知风险之间的不匹配可能导致不当行为和对推荐的公共卫生措施的不充分遵守。本研究是在意大利一所小学 2019 年发生结核病（TB）爆发后进行的。目的是评估当地卫生当局（包括地方卫生当局与当地居民之间的面对面会议、每周新闻发布会、实施电话热线和信息台以及社交媒体沟通）实施的沟通措施对学童家长和学校工作人员风险感知的影响，并确定与所述活动前后风险感知变化相关的因素。向学童家长（=846）和学校工作人员（=70）发放了匿名问卷。参与者被要求在两个不同的时间点报告他们所感知的风险水平：首次了解疫情爆发时和实施沟通活动后。在沟通活动后，两个群体的感知风险都显著降低（<0.001）。在报告赞赏与地方卫生当局医护人员会议的参与者中，降幅最大。我们的研究结果表明，保持开放的态度，向公众解释实际威胁，并根据不同的倾听技巧调整沟通方式，对卫生当局成功管理公共卫生紧急情况至关重要。
