RAPID: COVID-19 Information Campaigns for Vulnerable Populations

在开发出有效疫苗之前，能否成功减轻COVID-19疫情的影响取决于个人（尤其是已经并可能继续受疫情影响最大的弱势群体）是否会采取养生和寻求健康的做法。然而，尚不清楚有关社交距离和个人卫生的信息如何有效地传达给弱势群体。该研究项目将使用实验方法，在两个脆弱社区设计和实施创新的信息传递方案，以研究是什么决定了公共卫生信息活动的有效性。在一个信息稀少的社区，研究人员将招募那些社区中有影响力的人来传播将要设计的信息。在密集的信息环境中，研究人员将使用其种族和民族反映了作为信息运动目标的弱势群体的医生。研究人员将比较这两个社区的信息活动的有效性，以评估不同方法的相对有效性。除了对经济科学的贡献外，这项研究还可以为减少COVID 19和其他流行病传播的政策提供指导。因此，这项研究改善了美国公民的福祉，并有助于建立美国作为公共卫生信息的全球领导者。该研究项目将在两个脆弱社区使用随机对照试验（RCT）方法，调查是什么决定了公共卫生信息的有效性。重点是改变两种健康行为的信息-社交距离和个人卫生以及戴口罩。这两个领域的信息也将根据行为改变的私人利益与公共利益以及社交距离与卫生和面部覆盖来构建。此外，PI还改变了在研究中提供信息的渠道。在信息稀疏的弱势群体中，PI将使用被识别为网络节点的代理来传播信息，而在信息密集的弱势群体中，PI将使用代表社区种族多样性的种族多样性医生作为呈现消息的管道。然后，PI将比较两个弱势群体的结果，使他们能够看到信息运动的有效性在多大程度上取决于它们的框架或谁传达信息。这个非常强大的多学科研究团队的研究设计非常具有创新性。除了经济科学，该研究项目还有助于研究生教育以及公共信息政策。因此，这项研究改善了美国公民的健康状况，并帮助美国成为全球公共卫生信息的领导者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Until the development of an effective vaccine, the success or otherwise of reducing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic hinges on whether individuals will engage in health-preserving and health-seeking practices, especially among vulnerable groups who have been, and will likely continue to be the most impacted by the pandemic. It is however not clear how messages about social distancing and personal hygiene effectively reach vulnerable groups. This research project will use experimental methods to design and implement innovative messaging programs in two vulnerable communities to study what determines the effectiveness or otherwise of public health information campaigns. In one community where information is sparse, the researchers will recruit influential people in those communities to broadcast the messages that will be designed. In dense information environments, the researchers will use physicians whose racial and ethnicity mirrors those of the vulnerable population which is the target of the information campaign. The researchers will compare the effectiveness of information campaigns in the two communities to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different approaches to public health messaging. In addition to its contribution to economic science, this research can also provide guidance on policies to reduce the spread of COVID19 and other pandemics. This research therefore improves the wellbeing of US citizens as well as help to establish the US as the global leader in public health messaging. This research project will use a randomized control trial (RCT) method in two vulnerable communities to investigate what determines the effectiveness of public health messaging. The emphasis is on messages to change two health behaviors---social distancing and personal hygiene and mask-wearing. Messages in the two domains will also be framed in terms of private versus public benefits of behavioral change as well as social distancing versus hygiene and face covering. In addition, the PIs also vary the conduits through which the messaging is provided in the study. In sparse information vulnerable communities, the PIs will use agents identified as network nodes to disseminate the information while in dense information vulnerable communities, the PIs will use ethnically diverse physicians who represent the ethnic diversity of the community as the conduit to present the message. The PIs will then compare results from the two vulnerable groups, allowing them to see to what extend the effectiveness of information campaigns depend on how they are framed or who carries the message. The research design from this extremely strong multi-disciplinary research team is very innovative. In addition to economic science, this research project also contributes to graduate education as well as public information policies. This research therefore improves the health of US citizens as well as help to establish the US as the global leader in public health messaging.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.