**1. Introduction**

A pandemic presents a special kind of health crisis that requires "collective responsibility" together with changes in communication techniques ([1], p. 515). Previous research has confirmed that communication during a health crisis is crucial [2] in order to create awareness for the existence of a health threat [3, 4]. Hence, health risk messages disseminated during the crisis should be both instructing and adjusting, informing the public of which precautionary measures to take to reduce physical harm and the virus from spreading, while also providing individuals with guidance as to how to deal with the psychological threats of the crisis [5].

In the event of a pandemic, the government becomes a key actor in managing the (health) crisis [6, 7]. Conditioned by high degrees of trust, messages distributed on part of the government can drive the general population to comply with its recommended actions [8–11]. This is the case, since health messages for which the government is the identified source are perceived as both credible and relevant [7, 12], for individuals are convinced that the government can control the crisis [13]. This is

in line with previous research, which suggests that controllability and responsibility for the health threat influence the public's risk perceptions and, consequently, responses to these risks [14].

The primary aim of this chapter is to present some guidelines for effective health risk message design, drawing input from established crisis communication literature in general and some recent studies on COVID-19 risk communication in particular. To this end, recommendations regarding message presentation and design will be presented, before limitations and directions for future research are addressed.
