Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Vaccine hesitancy, social media, and parents’ attitudes towards childhood vaccination: A comparative study of Australian and Saudi populations.(Western Sydney University, 2024-07-27) Alsulami, Khalid; Archee, Raymond; Gurney, MyraParents’ hesitancy to vaccinate their children presents an increasing health risk globally, though public health campaigns can be effective if they address relevant underlying beliefs within a target population. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare Australian and Saudi parents’ attitudes and beliefs about childhood vaccinations, to better understand factors underlying vaccine hesitancy and the role of mediated communication in forming these views. There were two lines of investigation. A self-report survey was distributed to Australian and Saudi parents from 2020–2022 to directly assess their attitudes and beliefs about vaccination. The survey approach was supplemented with a broad search of Twitter for vaccine-related content across Australia and Saudi Arabia from 2018–2021. Qualitative analysis of this content was used to identify themes and concepts to summarise the various perspectives and mediated communications about vaccination. Results showed that different attitudes and beliefs about vaccination were typically held in each country, with Australians generally more positive about vaccinations than Saudis. Findings suggest higher vaccine hesitancy in Saudi Arabia, with different underlying factors and sources relied upon for information. Australians were more likely to rely on their doctor for advice, while Saudis relied more on self-directed sources such as books and social media. Australians were more concerned about vaccine-preventable illnesses, whereas Saudis were more concerned about negative effects of vaccines themselves and were more likely to delay vaccinating their child. Analysis of Twitter content showed that the platform was used extensively to communicate about childhood vaccination in both countries, and that both governments used Twitter to provide health advice. Australians expressed individualist perspectives, with more focus on personal choice, vaccine science, and questioning the influence of the media. Saudis focused more on collectivist themes such as religion and society itself. Together, the two approaches contribute to our understanding of the factors underlying parents’ vaccine hesitancy in Australia and Saudi Arabia. Implications of these findings were discussed in the context of the literature and suggestions were proffered for future research.37 0Item Restricted Exploring influencing factors on the adoption of nonpharmaceutical interventions during pandemics: COVID-19 as an example(University of Louisville, 2024-05) Alobaydullah, Ahmed; LaJoie, AndrewBackground: Pandemics are associated with loss of life, hospitalizations, and disruption to people’s social and economic lives. As the 2019 pandemic illustrates, COVID-19 can be prevented by pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Recommended measures such as wearing a mask, washing hands, social distancing, and self-quarantine have been proven to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Identifying the factors associated with adherence to NPIs is the first step in understanding which levers of change to pull when designing health promotion interventions such as health communication campaigns. This dissertation explores these factors and proposes a health communication framework during pandemics. Research Questions: This dissertation has three research questions: 1) What demographic, personal-cognitive, and socio-environmental factors influenced the adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions during pandemics among health care university students? 2) Which psychological, cognitive, or socio-environmental factors are more predictive of adherence to COVID-19 NPIs among the Saudi population? 3) What risk communication framework best suits public health messaging and communication to promote adopting non-pharmaceutical interventions during a pandemic? Methods: In the first manuscript, a systematic review was conducted to identify demographic, personal-cognitive, and socio-environmental factors influencing the adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions during a pandemic among health care university students. In the second manuscript, a quantitative non-experimental survey research design study was conducted, where a Social Cognitive Theory-guided survey was used to measure adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions and explore the personal cognitive and socio-environmental influencing factors. The third manuscript uses a grounded theory technique to explore the relevant literature on NPIs communication and develops a conceptual framework to assist the health communicator during pandemics. Results: In manuscript 1, the systematic review identified 18 articles for full-text review. The results yielded 18 demographic factors associated with NPIs practice factors, of which being older, female, observing others practice NPIs, and having higher risk perception levels were influencing factors. Additionally, cues to action, source of information, anger, confusion, and positive attitude, perceived stress, susceptibility, benefits, barriers, and severity influenced NPIs adherence. In manuscript 2, NPIs were strongly correlated with normative beliefs and negatively correlated with self-efficacy. The hierarchical multiple regression model revealed that socio-environmental factors explained a significant proportion of variance in NPIs (52%). In manuscript 3, the Pandemic Behavioral Prevention Framework was developed based on components adopted from the CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model, The Social Amplification of Risk Perception Framework, and The Social Cognitive Theory. Conclusion: The dissertation’s manuscripts found that demographic factors such as age and gender, personal cognitive factors such as risk perception, and socioenvironmental factors like social norms are influential when deciding to practice NPIs. These factors can be the basis of any health promotion intervention to promote NPIs in future pandemics. Also, we developed the Pandemic Behavioral Prevention Framework to utilize the currently used models of communication, risk, and behavior in shaping effective NPIs communication during pandemics.14 0Item Restricted The Use of Strategic Public Relations Communication Techniques in Campaigns to Raise Awareness of Breast Cancer: A Case Study of Breast Cancer Campaigns in Saudi Arabian Charities(2023) Aldakhil, Dalal; Rydzewska, Joanna; Rees, SianThis study investigates the efforts of cancer charities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to raise awareness of breast cancer through communication campaign techniques in order to reduce its incidence, which has been rising in the Saudi population for several years. Applying the Diffusion of Innovations Theory of Rogers (2003) as a theoretical framework, qualitative primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 individuals working in public relations (PR) and communications practice at six cancer charities to understand their experience of designing and planning health communication strategies to bring about health-related behavioural change among Saudi women. The study also involved qualitative content analysis of the Twitter pages of the six charities during Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) in 2018 to determine communicative functions in accordance with the classification scheme of Lovejoy and Saxton (2012). The interview data revealed that not all of the charities employed dedicated PR practitioners in their communication departments, but all carried out some PR functions, with a significant emphasis on the technical rather than managerial roles of PR. The participants were found to use various communication strategies and methods to reach different target audiences. However, considerable difficulty was experienced in the design of specific campaign planning strategies, with the participants demonstrating little use of breast cancer campaign strategy to overcome the lack of knowledge and awareness among Saudi women. The study confirmed that the charities did not use Twitter strategically, employing the platform largely as a one-way channel of information communication. Additionally, the charities rarely used promotional and mobilising messages as an action function and did not follow the commonly accepted relationship-building strategies such as dialogic and two-way communication.7 0