Tuesday, April 13
West Virginia made national headlines leading the nation for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Behind that rollout has been a comprehensive communication plan informed by marketing research performed by WVU’s Public Interest Communication Research Lab. In a matter of a few months, the research team gained an understanding of risk/health beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors related to the pandemic and the vaccine. This informed not just messaging, but how, when, and through what channels the messaging was distributed. Like most health communication, this messaging has a direct effect on people’s lives. Julia Daisy Fraustino, Ph.D., Daniel Totzkay, Ph.D., and Holli Nelson, Maj., M.A., share tips for successful, research-guided crisis, risk and health communication.