[Conference] 29th Asian Media Information and Communication (AMIC) Center Annual Conference, Bandung, Indonesia

A Content Analysis of Singapore Government’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication in Public Health Messaging about Dengue

Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, has been a health challenge in Singapore for decades. Singapore encountered two major Dengue outbreaks in 2020 and 2022. The Singapore government has implemented various communication strategies to mitigate the transmission of dengue. The crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC) model proposes that communication during a crisis or emergency can be divided into five phases (i.e., pre-crisis, initial, maintenance, resolution, and evaluation), and the communication messages can be categorized into several main and sub-themes. Building upon the CERC model, this study aims to investigate how dengue-related messages, communicated by the Singapore government, fall into the main-and sub-themes proposed by the CERC model. This study also examines whether the CERC strategies employed by the Singapore government differ between dengue outbreak (2020 and 2022) and non-outbreak (2021) years. In addition, this study examines whether the message themes employed by the Singapore government differ across the five CERC phases during dengue outbreak years (i.e., 2020 and 2022).

We conducted a quantitative content analysis of online (i.e., Facebook posts and website articles) and offline (e.g., booklets) publicity materials disseminated by the relevant authorities in Singapore. The sample (N = 676) was collated from various sources (e.g., Gov.sg, Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Health, and National Environment Agency) between 1 January 2020 and 30 September 2022. Three coders were recruited and trained to code the data using a codebook that we created. Our results showed that most of the messages in the publicity materials were about personal preventive measures and mitigation, followed by events, campaigns, and activities, and pandemic intelligence. Moreover, the CERC strategies employed by the Singapore government differed between dengue outbreak and non-outbreak years. For example, the number of messages on social and common responsibility in 2022 significantly surpassed those in 2021. Messages on general advisories and vigilance were disseminated most frequently in 2020 compared to 2021 and 2022. The differences in messages between outbreak and non-outbreak years suggest that the Singapore government followed the CERC model in communicating about dengue. The findings from this study also offer practical insights to health communication practitioners in Singapore.

Keywords: dengue; crisis communication; risk communication; CERC model; content analysis