THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT: Strategic Communication in the 2020 Pandemic

The subfield of strategic communication is relatively new to the discipline, although scholars have been studying and practicing it for centuries. Simply defined, it has to do with thoughtfully planned communication processes—from verbal/nonverbal message choices to distribution channels—intended to achieve a goal applied to a real world issue or problem. Strategic communication was first conceived as an area of advertising/public relations but has now grown to include its application in a variety of communication contexts. In other words, we can study strategic health communication, strategic organizational communication, strategic instructional communication, and so forth. In this chapter, we will focus on how strategic instructional communication functions in risk situations and crisis events. We will focus on both effective examples (i.e., quick mitigation of infectious disease outbreaks in agricultural settings) and ineffective examples (i.e., health protection through mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States). Ultimately, the relevance of using communication theory and research strategically to improve society and save lives will be clarified cogently and transparently. © Taylor and Francis 2022.

Engaged learning: lessons learned by subject-matter experts from COVID-19 in the U.S. swine industry

When industries fail to address warnings adequately, risk situations may manifest into crises. Although the U.S. swine industry planned thoroughly for potential infectious disease outbreaks among the animal population, COVID-19 highlighted a planning gap: What happens if the humans working to keep the industry operational can no longer work? This oversight ultimately resulted in a crisis event impacting all aspects of the U.S. swine industry. This study examines the process of engaged learning from failure that took place via retrospective accounts provided in interviews with 18 industry subject-matter experts. Lessons learned, practical applications, and areas for future research suggest that engaged learning values diverse perspectives and, ultimately, promotes meaningful systemic change. Conversely, organizations opting to disengage during or after crises are likely to repeat mistakes and experience similar crises in the future. © 2023 National Communication Association.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INSTRUCTIONAL CRISIS COMMUNICATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA Communicating Self-Protective Actions for Food Safety during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Health-related crises, particularly pandemics, create considerable uncertainty and fear. Addressing this fear, uncertainty, and resulting confusion requires instructional crisis communication that promotes cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning. The primary objective of this instruction is to promote self-protective actions that are proven through empirical evidence to reduce an individual's risk. During the first months of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States, considerable concern and confusion emerged among publics about the safety of their food and the potential contamination of food packaging. Using the IDEA model (emphasizing internalization of risk, explanation of the crisis, distribution of the messages, and action steps for protection), we analyzed the communication efforts of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) to provide accurate, evidence-based instructional information to consumers through social media about the food-related risk of contracting COVID-19. IFIC has over 500,000 followers (@foodinsight on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and more than 3.5 million consumers visit the IFIC website (https://foodinsight.org/) annually. This analysis suggests that instructional crisis communication must be nimble enough to adjust to the changing needs of those at risk and consistent enough to provide viewers with trustworthy and stable guidelines for ongoing safety and protection. © 2022 Taylor and Francis.

Communicating the Science of COVID-19 to Children: Meet the Helpers

This chapter describes and evaluates WUCF’s efforts to adapt their Meet the Helpers program to address the long-standing threat of a global pandemic. It offers a more detailed review of the IDEA (internalization, distribution, explanation, and action) model and introduce the concept of collective efficacy as the ultimate behavioral learning outcome desired in response to COVID’19. The IDEA model has demonstrated its utility as a viable framework for designing and distributing effective instructional messages for mitigating harm and taking protective actions, thereby, providing the theoretical grounding for this analysis. The chapter describes the adaptations made in the Meet the Helpers program to meet the challenge of collective efficacy. Meet the Helpers was distributed through a variety of channels with a consistent message about what the coronavirus is and how to stay safe and healthy. The chapter provides conclusions and recommendations for communicating collective efficacy to children in healthrelated crises such as pandemics. © 2021 John Wiley and Sons Inc.