Equity-informed social media COVID-19 risk communication strategies: a scoping review

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating worldwide impact but most prominent was its effect on marginalised, underserved and equity-deserving populations. Social media arose as an important platform from which health organisations could rapidly disseminate information to equity-deserving populations about COVID-19 risks and events, provide instructions on how to mitigate those risks, motivate compliance with health directives, address false information, provide the opportunity for engagement and immediate feedback. The objective of this scoping review was to synthesise the academic and grey literature on equity-informed social media risk communication strategies developed during the pandemic.

Design: The review followed the Arksey and O'Malley framework and focused on the research question: What are the promising principles, processes, and practices for producing equity-informed social media risk communications?

Data sources: CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE (OVID), Business Source Complete, EMBASE database OVID, Scopus and PubMed's curated COVID-19 literature hub: LitCovid, PsycINFO OVID were searched using terms related to access to health services, social media, risk communication, misinformation, community engagement, infectious disease, pandemics and marginalisation, supplemented by grey literature from relevant health organisations.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Studies were eligible if the population of interest was an equity-deserving population, the concept discussed was COVID-19 risk communication and the article was published in English between January 2019 and December 2022.

Data extraction and synthesis: COVIDENCE facilitated screening and extraction. Charted data were thematically analysed following Braun and Clarke's phased process. Preliminary findings were collaboratively discussed with representatives from health agencies and community organisations focused on serving equity-deserving groups.

Results: 12 studies were included. In terms of principles and process, studies emphasised the need to collaboratively create plans for message construction and targeted dissemination using a risk communication framework, capitalise on access to community resources and pre-established communication mediums and be considerate of population-specific needs and concerns. Practice entails careful consideration of communication mediums, language usage, communication frequency and evaluation.

Conclusion: This scoping review provides valuable insights for health agencies and community organisations in developing principles, processes and practices to equitably communicate risk information through social media. Engagement with stakeholders further refined and confirmed the findings, offering insights for future crisis communication strategies.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 infection; health equity; infectious diseases; public health; social media.

Figure 1. PRISMA flow chart. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.

Figure 2. Recommendations for equity-informed social media risk communications.