Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Risk Anal. 2023 Jul;43(7):1370-1386. doi: 10.1111/risa.14032. Epub 2022 Oct 11.
The 2020 hurricane season threatened millions of Americans concurrently grappling with COVID-19. Processes guiding individual-level mitigation for these conceptually distinct threats, one novel and chronic (COVID-19), the other familiar and episodic (hurricanes), are unknown. Theories of health protective behaviors suggest that inputs from external stimuli (e.g., traditional and social media) lead to threat processing, including perceived efficacy (self- and response) and perceived threat (susceptibility and severity), guiding mitigation behavior. We surveyed a representative sample of Florida and Texas residents (N = 1846) between April 14, 2020 and April 27, 2020; many had previous hurricane exposure; all were previously assessed between September 8, 2017 and September 11, 2017. Using preregistered analyses, two generalized structural equation models tested direct and indirect effects of media exposure (traditional media, social media) on self-reported (1) COVID-19 mitigation (handwashing, mask-wearing, social distancing) and (2) hurricane mitigation (preparation behaviors), as mediated through perceived efficacy (self- and response) and perceived threat (susceptibility and severity). Self-efficacy and response efficacy were associated with social distancing (p = .002), handwashing, mask-wearing, and hurricane preparation (ps < 0.001). Perceived susceptibility was positively associated with social distancing (p = 0.017) and hurricane preparation (p < 0.001). Perceived severity was positively associated with social distancing (p < 0.001). Traditional media exhibited indirect effects on COVID-19 mitigation through increased response efficacy (ps < 0.05), and to a lesser extent self-efficacy (p < 0.05), and on hurricane preparation through increased self-efficacy and response efficacy and perceived susceptibility (ps < 0.05). Social media did not exhibit indirect effects on COVID-19 or hurricane mitigation. Communications targeting efficacy and susceptibility may encourage mitigation behavior; research should explore how social media campaigns can more effectively target threat processing, guiding protective actions.
2020 年的飓风季节同时威胁着数百万正在应对 COVID-19 的美国人。指导针对这些概念上不同的威胁（一种是新型且慢性的（COVID-19），另一种是熟悉且偶发性的（飓风））的个人层面缓解措施的过程尚不清楚。健康保护行为理论表明，来自外部刺激（例如传统媒体和社交媒体）的输入会导致威胁处理，包括感知效力（自我和反应）和感知威胁（易感性和严重性），从而指导缓解行为。我们在 2020 年 4 月 14 日至 4 月 27 日之间对佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州的代表性居民样本（N=1846）进行了调查；许多人以前曾经历过飓风；所有人都曾在 2017 年 9 月 8 日至 2017 年 9 月 11 日之间接受过评估。使用预先注册的分析，两个广义结构方程模型测试了媒体暴露（传统媒体、社交媒体）对自我报告的 COVID-19 缓解（洗手、戴口罩、保持社交距离）和（2）飓风缓解（准备行为）的直接和间接影响，通过感知效力（自我和反应）和感知威胁（易感性和严重性）来介导。自我效能感和反应效能感与保持社交距离（p=0.002）、洗手、戴口罩和飓风准备（p<0.001）相关。感知易感性与保持社交距离（p=0.017）和飓风准备（p<0.001）呈正相关。感知严重性与保持社交距离（p<0.001）呈正相关。传统媒体通过提高反应效能感（p<0.05），在较小程度上通过提高自我效能感（p<0.05），对 COVID-19 缓解产生间接影响，对飓风准备产生间接影响通过提高自我效能感、反应效能感和感知易感性（p<0.05）。社交媒体对 COVID-19 或飓风缓解没有间接影响。针对效能感和易感性的传播信息可能会鼓励缓解行为；研究应探索社交媒体活动如何更有效地针对威胁处理，指导保护行动。
