Understanding the Impacts of Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) Media Exposure: The Case of U.S. Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)

"The future goals of risk communication about emerging infectious disease (EID) threats need to focus on building and maintaining trust, addressing knowledge gaps, and developing rational understandings of EIDs and the threats they pose."

Ebola's high fatality rate, combined with the novelty of the disease, made the fear surrounding a potential United States (US) outbreak particularly salient, as evident in news coverage and social media communication over an extended time period in the latter part of 2014. Drawing on the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) as a theoretical framework, this study examines the impact of media consumption on US audience perceptions of their personal susceptibility and perceived severity in response to the threat of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD).

As outlined here, "the EPPM model predicts several possible outcomes that an individual may have in response to a fear appeal message and places them into three broad categories: non-response, danger control response, and fear control response. EPPM predicts which of the three response routes individuals will take based upon the interaction between their perceptions of the threat and their perceptions of efficacy to avert the threat....In the EPPM, perceived efficacy is composed of both self-efficacy and response efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual's belief that they have the ability to act as the recommended behavior suggests....Response efficacy on the other hand is an individual's belief that the recommended behavior will effectively prevent the risk from happening, or manage the risk should it occur."

Study participants - 255 US residents - completed an online survey between October 28 and December 3 2014 during the height of Ebola-related media coverage in that country. Of the respondents, 82.6% reported receiving EVD information from traditional mediums (i.e., radio, TV, and print news media), 64.5% reported receiving information through social media outlets (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube), 38% received information from family and friends, 16.7% received information from professional healthcare workers, and 15.6% received information directly from government agencies. Although participants received information from a variety of sources, they reported needing more information about EVD.

In brief, the study found that:

• Individuals with higher amounts of exposure to media content about Ebola significantly differed in their evaluation of Ebola's severity when compared to those who did not consume any Ebola-related media content.
• The amount of media exposure affected the way individuals perceive their own personal susceptibility. For instance, those who reported no EVD-related media exposure believed they were the least susceptible when compared to audiences who were exposed 5-10 times.
• Increased EVD media exposure resulted in higher levels of intentions to engage in protective behaviours (e.g., purchase protective gear).
• Media exposure significantly varied self-efficacy but not individual response efficacy.
• Increased EVD media exposure was associated with higher levels of public trust, which is noteworthy, given that early reporting of the US Ebola threat framed the medical community as being unprepared to manage the threat.

Thus, the findings reveal that increased exposure to EVD media content was associated with increased threat severity and personal susceptibility, as well as willingness to engage in protective behaviors. "These findings support the position that increased exposure to EVD media content motivated individuals to engage in danger control, opposed to fear control processes..."

In reflecting on the findings, the researchers suggest that "each EID case, including the COVID-19 global outbreak, provides an opportunity for building and maintaining trust among healthcare organizations, public health experts and the general public. Openness, accuracy, and transparency are important attributes of communication for building and maintaining trust...Strategic health communication efforts designed to (a) address information sufficiency via health campaigns, (b) increase disease-specific knowledge, and (c) build and maintain trust are needed should EVD manifest as a reoccurring U.S. EID [emerging infectious disease]."

Noting that this study focused on the quantity of exposure, not the quality of the information content, the researchers call for future work examining the fidelity and accuracy of the media content. They also suggest additional measurement of affect, particularly anger, in EID contexts. Such investigation could garner further insight into how the EPPM operates and help researchers better predict public reactions to heightened media coverage of specific EID threats.

The researchers conclude by stressing the need to monitor and assess the impact of media consumption on audiences' risk perceptions.