Inoculation as a risk and health communication strategy in an evolving media environment

Communication continues to be at the center of risk and health promotion management strategies (Ivanov, 2012; Ivanov et al., 2016; Pfau, 1995) as many of the processes associated with these activities are “inherently communicative” (e.g., O’Hair & Heath, 2005, p.4). Garnett and Kouzmin, for example, argued that “Hurricane Katrina was and continues to be as much a communication crisis as a natural disaster” (2007, p. 171). As a result, these researchers, in concert with other social scientists (e.g., Degeneffe, Kinsey, Stinson, & Ghosh, 2009; Ivanov, 2012; Pfau, 1995), have called for the design and introduction of effective communication messages to be used as strategic tools in the effort to prevent and manage risk and health issues and crises.