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Dissertation
Tailoring health communication messages to signal the risk of wildfire smoke among at-risk populations: exploring dynamic risk perceptions, preventive behavior changes, and effectiveness of smoke warning messages
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
12/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000007255
Abstract
Hazards associated with wildfire smoke pose significant health risks, causing immediate and long-term harm to individuals and society. Wildfire-specific PM2.5 is directly associated with severe health issues. Low public awareness has led to an underestimation of the potential harm of wildfire PM2.5, particularly among at-risk and resource-challenged populations. This dissertation aims to further understand how individuals form risk perceptions through social signals during dynamic and multi-factor processes. It also evaluates the effectiveness of different smoke warning messages on persuasion, with the goal of identifying tailored and stage-matched communication strategies. This dissertation consists of two studies. Study 1 includes online surveys conducted at two time points: during (t1) and after (t2) wildfire smoke events to capture variations in risk perceptions of wildfire smoke and behavioral intention changes in preventive actions. Study 2 employs a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial between-subject design with three message types:
severity (low vs. high), efficacy (low vs. high), and source type (officials vs. peers), to investigate the effectiveness of smoke warning messages in promoting self-protective actions. Findings in this dissertation provide novel insights into the design of wildfire smoke warning messages for risk mitigation, especially messages that may promote enhanced well-being among vulnerable populations by equipping them with timely and accurate risk information to reduce the threats of wildfire smoke exposure.
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Details
- Title
- Tailoring health communication messages to signal the risk of wildfire smoke among at-risk populations
- Creators
- Ying-Chia Hsu
- Contributors
- Amanda Boyd (Chair)Alexis Tan (Committee Member)Traci Gillig (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 171
- Identifiers
- 99901195631201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation