**5.15 Present information in dual mode**

Health campaigns have been found to increasingly rely on videos [118], which present information in dual form, meaning in both textual and visual form. In the first instance, facts can be both presented in written and auditory form (voiceover or narration) and might be supported by illustrations and pictograms (e.g., [51]). Narration particularly caters to individuals with low health literacy levels, who can process spoken information more readily than written information [119]. Personal stories that are directly linked to the health-cause and narrated by testimonials, can increase identification and message impact [108, 110]. Videos' dual-mode presentation information processing and message recall [120, 121]. *For example, campaign videos in Germany and Austria were dubbed, while textual information was complemented with pictograms in Austria and Australia (see Figure 9*).

<sup>3</sup> In general, *health literacy* is defined as an individual's ability to process and comprehend health information [112]. A more broadly speaking, health literacy encompasses individuals' reading and writing skills, their ability to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information as well to critically analyze and reflect upon the information retrieved [113].

*Risk Communication in the Age of COVID-19 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96390*

**Figure 9.**

*Austrian PSAs utilizing information and pictograms. (Source: https://www.governor.ny.gov/).*

#### **5.16 Tailor information to individual needs**

If individuals act upon the proposed actions by the government depends on the impact – both in economic and social terms – associated with the health risk [18, 44], as well as their ability to make sense of the information they are presented with [122]. Governments are, therefore, advised to tailor their communications to individual information needs [123–125]. *In Austria, for example, campaign messages differed, depending on the message's designated target group (e.g., elderly at-risk people, general population, etc.).*

#### **5.17 Utilize switch buttons**

According to previous research, individual message preferences vary, and different message formats are preferred [16, 54]. For this reason, messages must be provided where individuals are likely to encounter them [126, 127], taking generational differences and media preferences into consideration. *For instance, campaign messages in Austria and Germany concluded with links to the Government's website, where additional information could be retrieved.*

### **6. Conclusion**

If crisis strikes, government officials are called upon to act quickly and engage in increased communication [6, 7]. The present study reviewed some existing literature and combined it with insights from health communication, in an attempt to provide some recommendations for effective COVID-19 health risk message design. This is crucial, for individuals' risk perceptions have been found to predict their likelihood of engaging in preventive behaviors, also in the case of pandemics [82] and in the case of emerging infectious diseases (EID) [8].

At any time during the crisis, message complexity should be reduced [122, 128], requiring lesser cognitive capacities on behalf of individuals to process message [51]. This is specifically important, if scientific evidence is presented. Only if message match the audience's cognitive capacities, individuals can play an active role in managing health risks. Moreover, visual (affective) stimuli can elicit emotions in individuals, and enhance message acceptance and learning, specifically if new information is presented [121].

Communication strategies are further recommended to take audiences' attitudes and inherent needs for comprehensive and instructional information – which

appeals to their self-efficacy [43] – into account [129]. Hence, government officials are advised to optimize message presentation, especially when the problem or risk addressed in this message affects whole populations. As such, it is important to increase both the identification with and the relevance of message content, evoking individuals into compliance. In order to increase identification and create familiarity with proper crisis behavior, communication should center on the affected population [18, 80, 104] and feature community members [43]. In order to increase message comprehensibility, information needs to be presented in simple language and in a straight-forward-manner, while also reducing message complexity [100, 120], e.g., through the inclusion of visuals. If message content is too complex, effectiveness can be enhanced by presenting information in dual form, i.e. by combining visual/auditory and textual elements [51]. For instance, narration can increase a message's persuasive impact [130], while also aiding respondents' identification with the message [131]. A dual-more presentation can thus help overcome respondents' potential resistance to message content [132], while also favoring those with low health literacy rates – a problem, that still challenges health communication in the age of COVID-19 [48, 114].

There are several limitations to the list of recommendations presented herein. Even though the study is based on a comprehensive literature review, it only focused on research articles from the field of strategic communication and health communication. Moreover, the national campaign examples only offer insights into the communication strategies utilized by the German, Austrian, U.S. American (New York) and Australian government. PSAs might be conceptualized differently in other parts of the world. Future research should also emphasize how campaign messages have changed as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed.
