The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress provides guidance to health and community leaders about how to utilize effective risk communication principles to prepare and update people during stressful situations.

How leaders communicate during stressful situations effects how people respond and react. To best prepare individuals for the pandemic, leaders must communicate timely, accurate, and up-to-date public health information. Specifically, it is important to follow these guidelines:

• Provide information on a regular and timely schedule
• Share what is known
• Avoid speculation
• Be truthful
• Avoid false promises
• Provide updated information
• Repeat messages if needed
• Communicate care

It is also important to remember that how messages are delivered often has a greater impact than what is said. Therefore, follow these recommendations:

• Prepare messages in advance
• Keep message short and simple
• Positive messages should outweigh negative messages 3:1
• Admit when you don’t know something
• Follow the CCO model
  • Compassion: demonstrate you care
  • Conviction: demonstrate commitment
  • Optimism: indicate a positive view of the future
• Prioritize messages
• Communicate most important message first (primacy) and the second most important message goes last (recency)