Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36502713›Full record

Trial reportSocial science & medicine (1982)2023

The efficacy of health experts' communication in inducing support for COVID-19 measures and effect on trustworthiness: A survey in Hong Kong.

Vera W H Yuen

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Social science & medicine (1982), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Vera W H YuenFaculty of Business and Economics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: yuenvera@hku.hk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To control the spread of COVID-19, governments may implement freedoms-infringing health measures. Therefore, citizens' support for these measures is important. This study investigates: (1) whether health experts' communication induces support for COVID-19 measures, and (2) whether health experts' agreeing or disagreeing with government directives affects their trustworthiness. A cross-sectional online questionnaire was completed by 1072 adults in the Hong Kong general population between May 26 and June 3, 2021. Three COVID-19 measures were examined: contact-tracing mobile application, restriction-testing, and ban of public assembly. For each, participants were randomly assigned to three groups to view, respectively: vignettes with a neutral government announcement only; vignettes with a government announcement and a health expert's quote supporting the government's decision; and vignettes with a government announcement and a health expert's quote disagreeing with the government's decision. The result shows that positive health experts' communication increased the support for banning public assembly; no effects were found for the support for contact-tracing mobile applications and restriction testing. Participants who only viewed health experts disagreeing with the government had higher trust in health experts relative to participants who viewed health experts agreeing with the government at least once. The results render doubtful the strategy that health experts can be involved for garnering support for unpopular health measures without jeopardizing public trust in them.

Indexed as

COVID-19Health CommunicationAdultCross-Sectional StudiesHong KongHumansSurveys and QuestionnairesCOVID-19ExpertsHealth communicationHong KongPandemicPublic healthScience communicationTrust

Identifiers

PMID36502713
PMCPMC9722236

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.