toolbox – Effective communication in outbreak management

THE
TOOLBOX

The toolbox consists of different products that together form an evidence-based behavioural and communication package for health professionals and agencies throughout Europe in case of major outbreaks of infectious diseases. Each tool can be accessed below.

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1. Tools to assess public perception and anticipate behaviour
2. Tools to review your preparedness
3. Tools to communicate with the public

Assessing disease & public characteristics

Using a checklist of disease characteristics and public risk perception, this tool helps to assess the urgency of risk communication in case of an infectious disease outbreak.

Author

GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond, RIVM

Target group

Policy makers, government officials, public health workers.

Distribution channel

Guideline (PDF)

Goal

To assess the urgency of risk communication during an outbreak of infectious diseases, so that people will be informed in time without causing unnecessary distress.

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Assessing risk perception of the public

This tool provides a standard questionnaire that can be used to measure risk perception among the general population in case of an outbreak of an infectious disease.

Author

GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond, RIVM

Target group

Policy makers, public health officials, researchers.

Distribution channel

Guideline (PDF)

Goal

To give example questions that can be used in a risk perception survey. It also illustrates how to organise a public survey and translate findings into communication messages.

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Estimating Vaccination Uptake

The purpose of the calculator is to simulate the expected vaccination uptake for various disease outbreaks with various vaccination programmes.

Author

Erasmus MC

Target group

Policy makers and government officials

Distribution channel

Online calculator

Goal

To anticipate vaccination behavior of the general public of four European countries, and to see how several disease and vaccination characteristics influence the expected vaccination uptake.

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Quantifying Public Vaccination Preferences

The purpose of this tool is to provide guidance on how to design the discrete choice experiment (DCE) on pandemic vaccinations in countries other than those currently included in work package 5 of the ECOM project.

Author

Erasmus MC

Target group

Researchers, policy makers

Distribution channel

website

Goal

To support in the design phase of the DCE on pandemic vaccinations.

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Identifying your options

This tool describes nine possible types of intervention that can be used to influence the behaviour of citizens and professionals prior to, during, and after a pandemic.

Author

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.

Target group

Health communication staff, policy makers, public health professionals

Distribution channel

guideline (PDF)

Goal

This tool can help you decide which mix of interventions you will need to apply in a pandemic. Two descriptive models and a matrix allow you to identify nine possible intervention approaches to make up your strategy.

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Setting up your plan

This is a guide for planning effective communication interventions in support of pandemic management programmes. The plan has four main steps: Scope, Test, Enact, Learn and act; these four steps are captured in the title STELa.

Author

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.

Target group

Health communication staff, policy makers, public health professionals

Distribution channel

guideline (PDF), website

Goal

This tool sets out a basic but comprehensive guide to the steps and stages necessary to develop, test, implement, and evaluate a communications and behavioural influence programme.

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Specifying Objectives

This is a tool for specifying behavioural, attitudinal and knowledge objectives in pandemic communication programmes. The guide provides checklists of issues to consider when developing objectives that will drive the programme.

Author

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.

Target group

Policy makers, public health specialists, marketing/communication specialists

Distribution channel

guideline (PDF), website

Goal

This tool is designed to help develop more focused objectives that can be evaluated more precisely in terms of their impact on the specific behaviours.

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Journey through a flu-pandemic

The poster “Journey through a flu-pandemic” is a tool to communicate with the public in times of an outbreak. It is a very visual approach to explain the phases of a pandemic and the interaction of all included players.

Author

Elastique. GmbH

Target group

The public, the government, health care institutions, the press.

Distribution channel

pdf, internet

Goal

The poster shows the progress of a stereotypical pandemic outbreak. It helps to understand the actions of the different players and to reduce possible arising worries of non-specialists.

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The PILA smartphone App

The prototype of the smartphone App “Pandemic Information & Life Assistant” answers questions of the public and health officials during a pandemic outbreak. It helps them to protect themselves in a very intuitive way.

Author

Elastique. GmbH

Target group

public health officials, the public

Distribution channel

internet

Goal

The app provides an open channel for direct communication with the public and gives reliable information during a pandemic. News, events, advice – the users will get unfiltered information from a reliable and responsible source.

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