Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Intersection Of Public Relations And Vaccine Communication: An Analysis Of Audience-Centered Strategies For Evolving Health Information, Julia A. Mills

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In an uncertain environment, public relations (PR) practitioners provide signposts to fulfill different audience information needs. However, little research exists on the role of the PR practitioner in communicating evolving health information, especially during urgent health events like a pandemic. Through a comparative case study of PR tactics by three American public health organizations, this project aimed to understand what strategies health care professionals can use to improve communication about the COVID-19 vaccine to priority populations. The findings then informed an original artifact with six best practices for audience-centered vaccine communication.

Framing Friction: A Content Analysis Investigating How The Cdc Framed Social Media Communication With The Public During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michaela Kandzer, Valentina Castano, Lauri M. Baker, Ashley Mcleod-Morin

Journal of Applied Communications

The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019. This zoonotic disease quickly spread through over 100 countries, including the U.S. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency by the end of January 2020. Soon after, many U.S. states issued mandatory stay-at-home orders, which caused adverse effects for agricultural businesses and food supply chains. During this crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared information through social media platforms such as Facebook. This study sought to understand how the CDC framed direct communication to the public about issues related to COVID-19 using …

Educating And Motivating Students To Get The Covid Vaccine, Ady Dewey

Strategic Public Relations Projects

The 2020-2021 academic year was one of many different challenges as the COVID pandemic ravaged the world. Classes at Bridgewater College were HyFlex, which meant some students were present, in-person, masked, while other students participated online via Zoom. This split arrangement presented significant challenges for everyone – those on campus and those remote. The college experience, needless to say, was totally rewritten and this importantly included communication efforts.

The 2021 Strategic Public Relations class (COMM 347) identified the need of educating their peers about the availability—and advantages—of getting the COVID vaccine. (At this point in March, the College had not …

Is Care In The Air?: A Crisis Ethics Case Study Of American Airlines’ Communication During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lily V. Hicks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research proposes a qualitative case study of American Airlines’ communication during the first month of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Data from the airline’s press releases along with its tweets and a sample of organizational responses to those tweets are offered for proposed analysis using the lenses of Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the Applied Model of Care Considerations, and the body of crisis literature on audience coping and emotions during crises. This in-depth look at a unique communication phenomenon will be a fundamental step in examining how airline communication exhibits ethics or lack thereof and is related to people’s emotions …

Preparing Students For The Real World: Analyzing Public Relations (Pr) Education For Entry-Level Practice In The Health Industry, Olivia Maria Lason

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Public relations (PR) agencies are often called upon to service the needs of niche industry areas of practice. These areas include healthcare communication which generates over 15% of firm revenue alone. Agencies are also top-employers of PR graduates, yet literature shows students are not meeting the skills and abilities expected of an entry-level practitioner. This study examined whether entry-level foundational skills and abilities (FSAs) are taught to PR students interested in the health field. Through a content analysis of undergraduate health communication syllabi in PR programs, the study found most FSAs were addressed; however, some areas were lacking. As such, …

An Analysis Of Kaiser Permanente’S Crisis Communication Strategy, Ingrid Greene

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Issues management in today’s quickly changing world can be a very delicate, and in the case of the spread of Ebola, with legal implications. Kaiser Permanente (KP) became deeply involved due to the involvement of its medical staff during the spread of the disease in the United States. All hospitals and medical staff in the U.S. are under the direction of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control (CDC), including KP. In addition, KP needed to ensure the safety of the patients it serves. This case study examines how the corporate communications team at KP …