Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T21:07:56.226Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Crisis Communication: An Inequalities Perspective on the 2010 Boston Water Crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

Ezequiel M. Galarce  and
K. Viswanath
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective: Although the field of crisis risk communication has generated substantial research, the interaction between social determinants, communication processes, and behavioral compliance has been less well studied. With the goal of better understanding these interactions, this report examines how social determinants influenced communications and behavioral compliance during the 2010 Boston, Massachusetts, water crisis.

Methods: An online survey was conducted to assess Boston residents' knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, mass and interpersonal communication, and preventive behaviors on emergency preparedness topics dealing with the water crisis. Of a total sample of 726 respondents, approximately one-third (n = 267) reported having been affected by the water crisis. Only data from affected participants were analyzed.

Results: Following an order to boil water, 87.5% of respondents refrained from drinking unboiled tap water. These behaviors and other cognitive and attitudinal factors, however, were not uniform across population subgroups. All communication and behavioral compliance variables varied across sociodemographic factors.

Conclusions: Crisis communication, in conjunction with other public health preparedness fields, is central to reducing the negative impact of sudden hazards. Emergency scenarios such as the Boston water crisis serve as unique opportunities to understand how effectively crisis messages are conveyed to and received by different segments of the population.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:349-356)

Keywords

crisis communicationcommunication inequalitiesbehavioral compliancesocial determinants
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 349 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Daley, BGil, G. Tests confirm it—water was OK to drink all weekend. Boston Globe. 2010.Google Scholar
2.World Health Organization. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Links to Health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; November 2004.Google Scholar
3.Hrudey, SEHElizabeth, J. Safe Drinking Water. Lessons From Recent Outbreaks in Affluent Nations. London, England: IWA Publishing; 2004.Google Scholar
4.Glik, DC. Risk communication for public health emergencies. Annu Rev Public Health. 2007:28:33–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Mullin, S. The anthrax attacks in New York City: the “Giuliani press conference model” and other communication strategies that helped. J Health Commun. 2003:8(suppl 1):15–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Lundgren, RE McMakin, AH. Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2009.Google Scholar
7.Angulo, FJTippen, SSharp, DJ, et alA community waterborne outbreak of salmonellosis and the effectiveness of a boil water order. Am J Public Health. 1997;87(4):580–584.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Atman, CJBostrom, AFischhoff, BMorgan, MG. Designing risk communications: completing and correcting mental models of hazardous processes, part I. Risk Anal. 1994;14(5):779–788.Google Scholar
9.Covello, VTPeters, RGWojtecki, JGHyde, RC. Risk communication, the West Nile virus epidemic, and bioterrorism: responding to the communication challenges posed by the intentional or unintentional release of a pathogen in an urban setting. J Urban Health. 2001;78(2):382–391.Google Scholar
10.Fessenden-Raden, JFitchen, JMHeath, JS. Providing risk information in communities: factors influencing what is heard and accepted. Sci Technol Human Values. 1987;12(3/4):94–101.Google Scholar
11.Peters, RGCovello, VT McCallum, DB. The determinants of trust and credibility in environmental risk communication: an empirical study. Risk Anal. 1997;17(1):43–54.Google Scholar
12.Sorensen, JH. Hazard warning systems: review of 20 years of progress. Nat Hazards Rev. 2000;1(2):119–125.Google Scholar
13.Chipman, HKendall, PSlater, MAuld, G. Audience responses to a risk communication message in four media formats. J Nutr Educ. 1996;28(3):133–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Harding, AKAnadu, EC. Consumer response to public notification. J Am Water Works Assoc. 2000;92(8):32–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Fisher, AChen, YC. Customer perceptions of agency risk communication. Risk Anal. 1996;16(2):177–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Mahon, BESlutsker, LHutwagner, L, et alConsequences in Georgia of a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella infections: what you don't know might hurt you. Am J Public Health. 1999;89(1):31–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.Rundblad, GKnapton, OHunter, PR.Communication, perception and behaviour during a natural disaster involving a “Do Not Drink” and a subsequent “Boil Water” notice: a postal questionnaire study. BMC Public Health. 2010;10:641–641.Google Scholar
18.Katz, ELazarsfeld, PF. Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers; 2006.Google Scholar
19.Watts Duncan, JDodds Peter, S. Influentials, networks, and public opinion formation. J Consum Res. 2007;34(4):441–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Casman, EAFischhoff, BPalmgren, CSmall, MJWu, F. An integrated risk model of a drinking-water-borne cryptosporidiosis outbreak. Risk Anal. 2000;20(4):495–511.Google Scholar
21.Kocagil, PDemarteau, NFisher, AShortle, JS. Value of preventing Cryptosporidium contamination. Risk Health Safety Environ. 1998;9:175–196.Google Scholar
22.Laughland, ASMusser, LMMusser, WNShortle, JS. The opportunity cost of time and averting expenditures for safe drinking water. J Am Water Resour Assoc. 1993;29(2):291–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.O’Donnell, MPlatt, CAston, R. Effect of a boil water notice on behaviour in the management of a water contamination incident. Commun Dis Public Health. 2000;3(1):56–59.Google Scholar
24.Willocks, LJSufi, FWall, RSeng, CSwan, AV; Outbreak Investigation Team. Compliance with advice to boil drinking water during an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis. Commun Dis Public Health. 2000;3(2):137–138.Google Scholar
25.Nsiah-Kumi, PA. Communicating effectively with vulnerable populations during water contamination events. J Water Health. 2008;6(suppl 1):63–75.Google Scholar
26.Viswanath, K. Public communications and its role in reducing and eliminating health disparities. In: Thomson, GE, Mitchell, F, Williams, MB, eds. Examining the Health Disparities Research Plan of the National Institutes of Health: Unfinished Business. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; 2006:215–253.Google Scholar
27.Tierney, KJ. Implementing a Seismic Computerized Alert Network (SCAN) for Southern California: Lessons and Guidance From the Literature on Warning Response and Warning Systems. Newark, DE: University of Delaware: Disaster Research Center; 2000.Google Scholar
28.Viswanath, KRamanadhan, SKontos, EZ. Mass media and population health: a macrosocial view. In: Galea, S, ed. Macrosocial Determinants of Population Health. New York, NY: Springer; 2007:275–294.Google Scholar
29.Nelson, DEKreps, GLHesse, BW, et alThe Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS): development, design, and dissemination. J Health Commun. September-October 2004;9(5):443–460; discussion 481-444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Smith, DLNotaro, SJ. Personal emergency preparedness for people with disabilities from the 2006-2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Disabil Health J. 2009;2(2):86–94.Google Scholar
31.US Census Bureau. Current Population Survey 2009. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau; 2010.Google Scholar
32.Mileti, DSSorensen, JH. Communication of Emergency Public Warnings: A Social Science Perspective and State-of-the-Art Assessment. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory; 1990. ORNL-6609.Google Scholar