Inclusive Crisis Communication in a Pandemic Context: A Rapid Review

(1) Background Crisis communication might not reach non-native speakers, persons with low literacy levels, a low socio-economic status and/or an auditory or visual impairment as easily as it would reach other citizens. The aim of this rapid review was to synthesize evidence on strategies used to improve inclusive pandemic related crisis communication in terms of form, channel and out-reach. (2) Method After a comprehensive search and a rigorous screening and quality assessment exercise twelve comparative studies were selected for inclusion in this review. Data were analysed and rep-resented by means of a structured reporting of available effects using narrative tables. (3) Results The findings indicate that higher message frequency (on any channel) may lead to a lower recall rate, audio-visual productions and tailored messages prove to be valuable under certain con-ditions, primary health care practitioners appear to be the most trusted source of information in most groups of citizens. Trust levels were higher in citizens who were notified in advance of potential exceptions to the rule in the effect of preventive and curative measures promoted. (4) Conclusion This review contributes to combatting information inequality by providing evidence on how to remove the sensorial, linguistic, cultural and textual barriers experienced by minorities and other harder-to-reach target audiences in Covid-19 related governmental crisis communication in response to the societal, health related costs of ineffective communication outreach.