By: SoC News
Faculty from the School of Communication are contributing to research on COVID-19 and the effects this virus has had on society. Through various projects, faculty are exploring the role of communication in reporting COVID-19 data, employee perceptions on business communication, social media use, and other topics. The list below will be updated as projects are developed.
1. Organizational communication for public health emergencies by Yeunjae Lee, Queenie Li, and Weiting Tao
This project aims to understand how organizations communicate with their employees during the COVID-19 outbreak and its resulting impacts on employees’ perceptions regarding the company they work for and their well-being.
2. Government communication for public health emergencies by Yeunjae Lee and Queenie Li
This project aims to understand the role of government communication in shaping Americans’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors regarding COVID-19, including risk perceptions, knowledge, and precautionary actions.
3. Media literacy, health literacy, COVID-19 by Regina Ahn and Queenie Li
This project aims to understand the role of media literacy and health literacy in shaping Americans’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors regarding COVID-19, including risk perceptions, precautionary actions, and discrimination acts toward East Asians.
4. COVID-19, communication, discrimination toward East Asians, and well-being by Yeunjae Lee and Queenie Li
This project is still under development. This project plans to explore how COVID-19 impacts East Asian Americans’ psychological and social well-being, and the role of government communication on this topic.
5. Publics’ social media communication using positive emotional messages (in particular, humor) in coping with COVID-19 by Sunny Tsai, Ching-Hua Chuan, Weiting Tao, and Ph.D. student Cheng Hong
6. Effective use of chatbots in COVID-19 related communication by Sunny Tsai, Ching-Hua Chuan,Weiting Tao, and Ph.D. student Cheng Hong
7. Stress reduction app for journalists for reporting conditions during the pandemic by Sallie Hughes, Clay Ewing, and Hilda Fernandez (Universidad de las Américas Puebla)
Adaptation of an in-process stress reduction app for journalists for reporting conditions during the pandemic.
8. Tracking firefighters’ COVID-19 exposures by Barbara Millet, Alberto Caban-Martinez, and Natasha Schaefer-Solle
This project evaluates COVID-19 infection and illness among Miami-Dade firefighters. The researchers have created new COVID-19 exposure reports, accessible through the Firefighters Cancer Initiative’s existing personal exposure reporting system, to collect repeated measures of COVID-19 contacts among firefighters. Data collected will provide decision support and real-time information about COVID-19 contact and cases.
9. COVID-19 trivia game by Lindsay Grace
A 60-question trivia game about COVID-19 health and safety. It’s based on English language fact sheets from the CDC, ECDC, WHO, Australian Government Health System, and White House publications. Each of the sources is linked in the game. The game is playable across web and mobile.
