Messaging Is More than the Message
The Messaging Development Core (MDC) is the communication powerhouse of ACCORD. Its mission is to leverage the knowledge of dissemination and social sciences to improve the quality and efficiency of COVID-19 communication among underserved communities in North Carolina and improve trust and confidence towards public health organizations among those communities. To achieve these goals, MDC will develop and implement an evidence-based COVID-19 communication strategy grounded in research.
MDC's research initiatives are as follows:
- Community information consumption survey
- Community focus groups to understand information networks within communities
- Communication audit for public health organizations in North Carolina
- Big data analysis of COVID-19 related disinformation campaign
MDC interventions include the following:
- Making COVID-19 related research data and knowledge more accessible to the general public through the ACCORD social media sites
- Develop public service announcements (PSAs) for COVID-19 testing
- Develop social media strategies to share with public health organizations in NC
- Utilize ethnographic research data to develop scripted and staged theatrical performances as a dissemination tool to communicate health messages about COVID-19
- Measure effectiveness of the ethnodrama in evolving/informing perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19, testing, vaccinations and clinical trials