Yes, we can: motivate Dutch citizens to engage in self-protective behavior with regard to flood risks

Although the risk of flooding poses a serious threat to the Dutch public, citizens are not very inclined to engage in self-protective behaviors. Current risk communication tries to enhance these self-protective behaviors among citizens, but is nonetheless not very successful. The level of citizens engaging in self-protective actions remains rather low. Therefore, this research strives to determine the factors that might enhance or lessen the intention to engage in self-protection among citizens. The study was a 2 (flood risk: high vs low) × 2 (efficacy beliefs: high vs low) between subject experiment. It was conducted to test how varying levels of flood risk and efficacy beliefs influence two different self-protective behaviors, namely information seeking and the intention to engage in risk mitigating or preventive behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship between information seeking and the intention to take self-protective actions was discussed. Results showed that high levels of flood risk lead to higher levels of both information seeking and the intention to engage in self-protective behaviors than low levels of flood risk. For efficacy beliefs, the same trend occurred. Also, results showed that information seeking seems to coincide with the intention to take preventive actions and acted as a mediator between the levels of perceived risk and efficacy and the intention to take self-protective actions

Previous Experiences with Epilepsy and Effectiveness of Information to Change Public Perception of Epilepsy

Differences with regard to the effectiveness of health information and attitude change are suggested between people with direct, behavioral experiences with a health topic and people with indirect, nonbehavioral experiences. The effects of three different methods of health education about epilepsy, frequently used in health education practice, are assessed in a pretest posttest design with control groups, controlling for experiences with epilepsy. Subjects were 132 students from teacher-training colleges. After all treatments, attitudes, and knowledge about epilepsy were changed in a positive way. Treatments were found to be equally effective. Before treatment, direct behavioral experiences were related to knowledge and a more positive attitude towards epilepsy. After treatment, subjects with direct behavioral experiences with epilepsy showed less change of attitude and knowledge as compared with subjects with indirect experiences. Direct experiences appear to restrain the processing of new information and attitude change

Current views on risk communication and their implications for crisis and reputation management

Organizations prepare for crisis communication by designing, implementing, and evaluating procedures, scenarios, and emergency measures. In addition to crisis communication, risk communication is a concern for many organizations as well. Risk communication is viewed as an interactive, multi-actor democratic process. Traditionally, risk communication is seen as a linear, top-down, elitist, expert-to-public approach. In this paper, the relation between crisis communication and risk communication is described. In addition, a model is presented based on the notion that crisis communication should be proactive, and focusing on the management of the relation between the organization and its relevant stakeholders or the organization’s reputation. The new thinking on the risk communication process is essential for an organization’s crisis and reputation management

Implementing Health Related Quality of Life Measurement in Clinical Practice: A prospective study in patients with chronic liver disease

Health related quality of life (HRQoL), or psychological-, social-, and physical functioning (1), has become an important outcome measure in medical care. A literature search in PubMed in July 2007 for ‘health related quality of life’ showed close to 14.000 hits. Until recently, HRQoL measurement has predominantly been restricted to a research environment, with most studies comparing HRQoL scores of specifi c patient populations with scores of healthy norm populations. Subsequently, impaired HRQoL has now been established for many patient populations. However, this information does not give insight in the HRQoL of individual patients. Therefore, a useful next step in HRQoL measurement seems to be its application in clinical practice, with the goal of improving individual patients’ well-being. The conclusion of a recent thesis on the HRQoL of patients with chronic liver disease subscribes this move from using HRQoL in a research environment to clinical practice (2). In that thesis, it was concluded that “During consultations, besides attention for physical impairments of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), attention should be given to psychological impairment…” (2). With the application of HRQoL measurement in clinical practice, both physical and psychological impairment will be addressed. Considering the reduced HRQoL that has been found in patients with CLD and the large prevalence and severity of CLD, patients with this disease were included in the present thesis on the application of HRQoL measurement in clinical practice. The fi rst aim of this thesis was to assess the effectiveness of computerized measurement of HRQoL in clinical practice. To that end, we performed a prospective, randomised controlled study on the use of HRQoL data in a large sample of patients with CLD recruited from the recruited from the outpatient clinic of hepatology of a single academic centre in the Netherlands. The results are described in the fi rst part of this thesis (chapter 2 and 3). The second aim of the study was to identify predictors of HRQoL in patients with CLD. In order for the identifi cation of impairment, as described in the fi rst part of the thesis, to lead to an adjustment in treatment it is imperative to know which factors infl uence HRQoL of patients with CLD. With knowledge of these factors, physicians can be assisted in further management of patients presenting with impaired HRQoL. Despite the many studies that have shown a reduced HRQoL in hepatology, relatively few studies have investigated which factors infl uence liver patients’ HRQoL. Therefore, second aim of this thesis was to determine physical and psychological factors that are closely related to HRQoL in patients with chronic liver disease. The results of this investigation are addressed in the second part of the thesis (chapter 4 - 6). The last chapter describes the development of a liver disea

The perception of flooding and water nuisance

In this paper we aim to gain insight in the determinants that control the risk perception of flooding and water nuisance by developing and validating a questionnaire. We also investigate to what extent the risk characteristics of external safety risks apply to perceptions of flooding and water nuisance. We use elements from the psychometric paradigm: risk perception characteristics and their interrelationships have been quantified by developing statements about flooding (38) and water nuisance (12), which were rated by respondents. The state-trait anxiety inventory was applied to determine whether perceptions are related to anxiety characteristics. A focus group session was organized to further explain our findings. Factor analyzing 49 questionnaires resulted in the identification of eight flooding factors (explained variance: 74%) and three water nuisance factors (explained variance: 62%). The internal consistency of the scales measured by Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.54 to 0.82. Like in the perception of external safety risks, ‘dread’ seems to be the most important concept binding different characteristics. Although dread towards both flooding and water nuisance is rather low, it seems more present in the latter case. We hypothesize cautiously that the extent of dread for water nuisance is also determined by the anxiety one experiences at that particular moment. In both cases awareness of ‘increasing risks’ is clearly present, and we find the characteristics ‘(no) dread’, ‘(un)controllable situation’ and ‘does not affect me’ to be related. Also the characteristic ‘risk-benefit trade off’ seems also to be related to ‘no dread’.