Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Intended target audiences for our One Health risk messages are visitors to natural areas, such as National Parks. In this regard, in July and August 2014, we had 1,001 adults, aged 18 and older, participate in the field testing of our messages. For Experiment 1, we recruited 521 visitors in two national parks (258 from Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and 263 from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. For Experiment 2, we recruited 480 visitors: 224 from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and 256 from Fire Island National Seashore in New York. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Over the course of the project, several graduate and undergraduate students have been involved in the research. These include graduate students, who have helped develop survey instruments, collect data, analyze results, write up and present results, and prepare publications, as well as undergraduates, who have developed adjacent and complementary lines of research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have presented results from our research not only at traditional academic conferences, such as the Society for Risk Analysis and International Communication Association,but also meetings of practitioners. For example, I have presented our findings on chronic wasting disease risk messaging to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In addition, we have proposed attending and presenting our work at the upcoming Council on Terrestrial Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) annual meeting. This meeting includes representatives from state and local health departments who develop risk messages. In addition, via our collaboration with the National Parks Service, we are endeavoring to develop a plan for how to disseminate a template of our messages for possible use at National Park units throughout the U.S. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In line with our goals, we have developed and field tested One Health risk messages for three different wildlife species and three different disease contexts.We sampled adult U.S. populations, including nationally representative samples, as well as visitors to National Parks in New York,Tennessee, Kentucky, and Colorado. The diseases we examined are very relevant to New York State: chronic wasting disease incervid populations; Lyme disease carried by ticks and transported by mice and deer; and rabies in bats. We also conducted some research into how state public health and wildlife health agencies communicate about white nose syndrome in bats, which originated in New York, to better understanding how conservation messages might be developed for this risk-laden species. The overall intent of the messages we developed were to increase understanding ofthe linkages among human,wildlife, and environmental health and well-being (i.e., One Health) while not leading to decreased tolerance of wildlife, who may be perceived as vectors of disease if messaging is done poorly. Our research discovered some of the challenges associated with risk messages that could have unintended, negative impacts, such as decrease support for wildlife conservation. In particular, messages that did not include the benefits of the wildlife to the ecosystem resulted in less support for bat conservation, in the case of rabies. Among some of our audiences,there was also decreased support for conservation when the risks were portrayed as happening "today"versus"in the next ten years." That is, people reacted to the immediate threat by discounting the message. As with most research projects, more work is needed to examine these effects in more contexts, but as the first study of its kind to test One Health risk messages, we believe we made significant scientific progress in this area.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Kretser, H., Dixon, G., Lauber, B., Zwillenberg, J., & McComas, K. (2015, Boston). Inconsistent messages in state wildlife and public health agency communication about bats: potential impacts for conservation and recovery. Paper submitted to the Council on Terrestrial Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) annual meeting. Boston, MA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Roh, S., McComas, K., & Rickard, L. (2014, May). How motivated reasoning and temporal cues polarize the acceptance of One Health risk messages. Paper accepted for presentation at the 2014 ICA Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
1. Roh, S., McComas, K., Rickard, L., & Decker, D. When casting blame backfires: How motivated
reasoning and temporal frames polarize opinions about wildlife disease risk. Accept with minor revisions at Science Communication
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
7. Roh, S., Rickard, L., McComas, K, & Decker, D. Temporal framing and motivated reasoning:
Can temporal cues moderate backlash toward environmental messages incongruent with worldview? Manuscript under review at Public Understanding of Science.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Rickard, L., McComas, K., & Roh, S. (2015, June). Whose fault is it anyway? Exploring reactions to One Health risk messages about Lyme disease. Paper to be presented at Conference on Communication and the Environment, Boulder, CO.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Kretser, H., Lauber, B. Dixon, G., McComas, K. (2014, October). Inconsistent messages in state wildlife and public health agency communication about bats: potential impacts for conservation and recovery. Pathways 2014 Conference: Integrating Human Dimensions into Fish and Wildlife Management. Estes Park, CO.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Lu, H., Buttke, D., & McComas, K. (2015, Boston). Measuring the efficacy and collateral effects of public health messaging about zoonotic disease risk: an experimental survey in four national parks. Paper submitted to the Council on Terrestrial Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) annual meeting. Boston, MA.
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Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: During this past year, we conducted survey research with a general population of approximately 600 U.S. adults to test our One Health messages and allow us to refine them. In addition, results from our research on One Health messaging related to bats and white nose syndrome were presented to staff at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Saranac, Lake, NY. Changes/Problems: The one change was that we requested and obtained some additional funding to focus some of our efforts on analyzing risk communication with NYS residents about bats – a risk-laden species facing a pressing conservation situation that may require landowner actions to ensure long-term survival. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Over the course of the year, we have had three undergraduate students participate in the research. In addition, we have had two graduate students participate in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? As mentioned earlier, results from the bat content analysis were presented to staff members at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Saranac Lake, NY. In addition, we presented results last March at the George Wright Society meeting, which always draws many wildlife and public health professionals interested in parks and protected places. Finally, we presented our results at the Society for Risk Analysis annual meeting, which also includes professionals seeking how to better communicate One Health risk messages. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, we will field test our One Health risk messages with park visitors in New York State and beyond to ensure their generalizability. As noted, these messages will be about bats, a risk-laden species in New York State and beyond that also provides substantial benefits while also posing some health risks. This is why we believe it an ideal species to focus on for this phase of message testing.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Year 2 focused on (1) analysis of the data collected on the effects of our One Health messages in Year 1; (2) preparation of conference presentations of the results and submission of journal publications; and (3) refinement of the One Health messages for field testing in Year 3. With regard to 3, we have chosen to focus our field tested message on bats and rabies and are currently refining the message with our collaborators at the National Park Service. In addition, through collaboration with colleagues at Cornell, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Park Service, we exploited an opportunity to address communication with NYS residents about bats – a risk-laden species facing a pressing conservation situation that may require landowner actions to ensure long-term survival. Specifically, we conducted a communication audit of risk messages that are currently being disseminated by public health and wildlife conservation agencies about bats. The content analysis documented how much consistency exists across different agencies with regard to risks from bats. We examined all the press releases from state public health and wildlife conservation agencies in eight states where White Nose Syndrome is currently found (e.g., NY) and where it is predicted to go. This knowledge can better help us to understand what types of conflicting or consistent messages people are getting about bats, which might influence their support for their conservation.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Roh, S., McComas, K, Decker, D., & Rickard, L. (2013, May). Motivated Conservationism: Contingent Effects of "One Health" Framing on Conservation Behavior. Paper to be presented at the AAPOR Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
McComas, K., Roh, S., Rickard, L., Decker, D., & Castle, K. (2013, March). Communicating One Health Messages: The Effects of Framing on Conservation Intentions. Poster to be presented at the George Wright Society Conference, Denver, CO.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Roh, S., McComas, K., Decker, D., & Rickard, L. (2013, August) One Health, two minds: Effects of One Health messages on partisan divides. Poster presented at the AEJMC Annual Convention, Washington DC.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Roh, S., McComas, K., Decker, D., & Rickard, L. (2013, December) Perils and Promises of One Health Risk Messages about Lyme Disease. Paper presented at the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
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Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Year 1 of the One Health Risk Messaging project has focused primarily on the development, pilot testing, and fielding of a web survey seeking to understand the extent to which the public currently links climate change with biodiversity, species conservation, and infectious or zoonotic disease. Activities included conference calls with our National Park Service collaborators in Fort Collins, CO, and meetings with our Cornell collaborators. Based on this input, we chose two scenarios of relevance to New York State: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and elk and Lyme Disease. We developed messages using these scenarios to test how the attribution of blame for the disease (i.e., wildlife behavior, natural variation, human actions) influenced people's environmental attitudes and intentions to engage in environmental conservation behaviors. The intent was also to examine whether any aspects of our approach had a "boomerang" effect, meaning the opposite effect than what we had sought. All our messages were developed using extensive input from our wildlife biologist, entomologist, and disease ecologist collaborators. In Spring 2012, we conducted a pilot study among 60 Cornell undergraduates to refine the CWD questionnaire. Based on these data, we revised the questionnaire and sought further feedback from our collaborators. In August and September of 2012, we collected data on the CWD questionnaire using 550 U.S. adults recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk marketplace (see https://requester.mturk.com/). MTurk is an online platform connecting individuals seeking completion of certain tasks, such as online surveys, with those willing to complete them for compensation. It is also a relatively affordable way to test measures prior to launching a random U.S. representative survey. We analyzed these data and made revisions to the questionnaire. Then, in October and November 2012, we launched two nationally representative surveys, one on CWD and the second on Lyme Disease, using the survey firm Knowledge Networks (now GfK). In total, 355 individuals took the CWD survey and 460 completed the Lyme Disease survey. At present, we are analyzing the results of these surveys. PARTICIPANTS: Cornell individuals who worked on the project this year included Katherine McComas, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication; Daniel Decker, Professor, Dept. of Natural Resources and Director, Human Dimensions Research Unit; Laura Harrington, Associate Professor, Dept. of Entomology, and C. Drew Harvell , Professor, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Our collaborators at the National Park Service (NPS) included Kevin Castle, Margaret Wild, Kirsten Leong, and Danielle Butke. Laura Rickard in the Dept. of Environmental Studies at SUNY-ESF also collaborated on the research. Finally, Sungjong Roh, a PhD student in Communication, worked as a graduate research assistant using funding provided by the NPS. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our target audiences in Phase I included U.S. adults, who participated in the survey research. Included in our sample were New York adult residents. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We had planned to use Cornell's Survey Research Institute to implement the survey but modified this approach to use MTurk for the initial study and then Knowledge Networks for the representative survey. The modification allowed us to generalize our results to the U.S. population while also enabling us to focus in on New York residents, who are part of the sample.
Impacts
It may be that exposure to our One Health messages impacted survey respondents; however, until we have completed analyzing our survey data, we can only hypothesize. Further, we have yet to disseminate the results, so we cannot assess impacts of our work on a broader audience.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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