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Background: The National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, defined risk communication as “an interactive process of exchange of information and opinions among individuals, groups, and institutions, concerning a risk or potential risk to human health or the environment” (Improving Risk Communication, 1989). Risk communication includes understanding risk perception factors that reflect a different view of risk by the public from that of medical and scientific experts and government health program officials. Not addressing these factors can reduce the effectiveness of communications and increase the potential for misunderstanding and distrust.
Program background: The Subcommittee on Risk Communications is advisory to the Deployment Health Work Group (DHWG) of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The DHWG focuses largely on environmental exposures that occur during military service. The Subcommittee is conducting a series of communications reviews or “audits” on exposure topics to: determine what information is being conveyed, ensure consistency between Federal websites and, importantly, make them more responsive to the concerns of Veterans, family members, Servicemembers, and the public. The first review topic was historic water contamination at Camp Lejeune, related health concerns, and Section 102 of Public Law 112-154, the “Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012,” enacted August 6, 2012, which makes Veterans and family members who served on active duty or resided at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more between 1957 and 1987 eligible for VA medical care for 15 health conditions.
Evaluation Methods and Results: The website review identified key messages, determined consistency, identified risk perception factors, and looked at links to other sources of information. Resulting recommendations addressed inconsistencies and use of care in wording such as dates, concepts about exposure, and terms that can have different meanings. The review of public comments and perceptions was based on a sampling of weekly reports of media and social media July 2012 to January 2013 (compiled by ICF, Inc., under contract with the Marine Corps). The Subcommittee identified more than a dozen key themes, and recorded extensive verbatim public comments that supported these themes, risk perception factors, and reviewer perspectives. Themes included cover up/conspiracy, mistrust, key role of advocates, potential health effects, anger, a need to take legal action, and a desire for more information. Resulting recommendations were that all staff involved in public communications – leaders, scientists, health professionals, and web and public affairs staff – use a set of approaches that demonstrate empathy, compassion, and respect; consider public concerns and perceptions; are transparent and factual; focus on the positive; are attentive to wording and clarity; and actively and regularly provide information and updates.
Conclusions: The process enabled fresh insights on how information was presented on websites and on public perspectives, with recommendations for how to improve risk communications practices.
Implications for research and/or practice: Systematically addressing the perceptions of the public is essential to effective risk communications. Public comments via social media are a rich source of information and can be assessed and organized to improve communications by scientific and public health programs.