• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Sunday, August 3, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

New study highlights the role of risk communication in coping with COVID-19

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 16, 2020
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Zheng JIN

The mental effects of pandemics on people can arise not only from the burden of preventive measures, the fear of contracting and cure but also coping with the exponential deaths. It was predicted in 2018 that the next major outbreak and its containment challenges might not be due to a lack of preventive technologies but to emotional contagion, which could erode trust in government, causing serious economic and social disruption. It is thus crucial to understand the relationship between risk communication and psychological responses especially in the ascending phase of pandemic, at which public emotions and behaviours in response to the epidemic change rapidly. In it is in this vein that, psychologists at the International Joint Laboratory of Cognitive and Behavioural Scienc (iLCBC) at Zhengzhou Normal University have carried a research on the relationship between psychological responses and risk communication during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic to answer the following questions: What is the public reaction to epidemic outbreaks in the early phase? How does the effective exchange of real-time risk information impact them over time? What are the characteristics of these effects under different risk intensities?

Data was collected from 26th Jan 2020 (at which time 30 Provinces launched the First-level response to major public health emergencies in China, 56 deaths had occurred, and 2,014 cases were confirmed worldwide) until 17th February 2020 (1,775 deaths and 71,429 confirmed cases worldwide) with the mean test-retest interval of 16 days, by inviting community residents from two provincial capitals: Wuhan and Zhengzhou.

The findings of the study showed that risk communication in the initial stage of the outbreak mitigated the susceptibility to emotional contagion, and that this interaction had a larger influence on the epidemic frontline (i.e., Wuhan). Furthermore, prevention activities were predicted by the quality of risk communication, suggesting that preventive behaviours taken were closely linked to the efficient and timely transmission of information related to the epidemic. While researchers have found that effective risk communication may reduce susceptibility to emotional contagion and is a significant means of alleviating public anxiety, it has shown some inconsistencies to previous findings in that there is a reciprocal correlation between anxiety and risk communication, which means that the emotional component may build resistance to risk communication.

In January 2020, Wuhan became the battlefront in the fight against COVID-19 and was the focus of global attention. The data provides some of the first follow-up records regarding mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak. According to Dr Zheng Jin, Director of the iLCBC, “Officials trying to circumvent chaos or panic by withholding information are more harmful than the public behaving irrationally in a public health emergency” he says, “Pre-crisis planning is expected to create a transparent, open and honest flow of information.”

###

Media Contact
Hao Jin
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.550220

Tags: Public HealthSocial/Behavioral ScienceStress/Anxiety
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Trans-Synaptic Spread of Tau in PSP Uncovered

August 3, 2025
Motor Interventions Improve Children’s Coordination: New Study

Motor Interventions Improve Children’s Coordination: New Study

August 3, 2025

Tau PET Positivity Varies by Age, Genetics, and Sex

August 3, 2025

Voltage Imaging Uncovers Hippocampal Memory Inhibition Dynamics

August 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    50 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Tracing Tire Particles in Swiss Road Soils

Innovative Solutions for Precise Microplastic Analysis Validation

Microscale Photopatterning of RGB OLED Layers

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.