Kia ora from Jess,
I feel incredibly grateful for the space we enjoy here in Aotearoa from experiencing the worst effects of COVID-19 our communities. I’m grateful also to all those people working across the system to keep COVID out before we have full vaccination.
Vaccination has become the critical next step to moving past the pandemic, and many people are right in the thick of vaccination work and keen to do it well. There is a great sense of responsibility driving this work. We feel that sense of responsibility too. In collaboration with our Australian sister organisation, Common Cause, we have been researching how to talk about vaccination to people who have hesitations. We are also putting together a guide for communicating COVID-19 vaccination to build trust. Trust is a fundamental aspect of people’s ability to hear good information about vaccination and decide to vaccinate.
While you're waiting for the guide, we have included some of the key findings and recommendations in this newsletter, as well as some examples of fantastic vaccination communications already being used.
Crafted at The Workshop this Month
How to talk to people not quite ready to get vaccinated and build their trust
Giving people access to good information about vaccination in ways that work for them is an important determinant of their health and wellbeing. So how can we talk about COVID-19 vaccinations in ways that deepen understanding and encourage those who may not be quite ready to get vaccinated?
Some things we have learned about vaccination are:
False information may be one factor in hesitancy but it is only one of many, including personal and social group influences, contextual influences, and vaccination specific issues (like access).
Vaccination decisions are about trust far more than they are about information.
Social norms have a powerful effect on vaccination decisions (seeing people move from hesitancy to vaccination encourages us to vaccinate).
Most people are willing to get vaccinated. Being hesitant does not prevent people deciding to vaccinate. Many people have not adopted a binary position.
We should treat hesitant people as though they are willing to get vaccinated under the right conditions, because many are.
Communications can help create these conditions. Here are five ideas on how...
Aim to connect and build trust rather than correcting, mythbusting or extensive fact led communications (facts don't build trust in people, being trustworthy does).
Collaborate and co-develop vaccination communication programmes with communities: sharing knowledge and handing over the work. This will increase trust and ensure that the people visible on vaccination communications can speak authentically to the experiences of those communities particularly.
Concerns about access may be the primary concern for people. In such cases assume willingness to vaccinate and clearly communicate: how people can get a vaccine, that it will be easy, and that someone they trust will deliver it.
Use intrinsic values: motivate people to vaccinate through values of care, responsibility to others, and empowerment over their wellbeing, (ditch individual motivations, fear and safety ones). Vaccination is a collective action, if everyone who can get vaccinated gets vaccinated and our community becomes immune we will all be able to enjoy the benefits of keeping Covid-19 out.
Frame vaccination in helpful ways. These include:
Talk about the better world we get through immunity (don't focus on the act of vaccination, it’s not motivating)
Talk about vaccination as the next step following all the other things we have done to keep COVID-19 out (as opposed to framing vaccination as a silver bullet)
Avoid talking about hesitancy as THE problem to overcome, instead frame the transformation from hesitancy to getting vaccinated.
Avoid urgency frames, instead talk about vaccinating now in the space we have.
Use gain frames, not loss frames - leading with the benefits of vaccinating is better than negative consequences of not vaccinating.
Avoid the word choice (it can surface ‘free rider’ thinking - that is thinking someone else will choose the vaccine so I don't need to in order to get the benefit). Do talk about empowering good decision making.
Applying some of these key insights to interpersonal conversation, Jess wrote an op-ed in Stuff last month.
Talking about Covid Vaccination
For an Inspired evidence based COVID-19 vaccination communication campaign go no further than the CCDHB Māori and Pacific Team.
Some great things about this campaign (which are supported by the evidence):
Image: The CCBHD Trusted Faces Trusted Places campaign for more information see https://positivelypacific.org.nz
1. This campaign understands that trust is fundamental in vaccination decisions and people need to know someone THEY trust will give them a vaccine in a way that works for them (especially where trust has been eroded previously by negative treatment).
2. This campaign frames transformation: instead of talking about hesitancy as a problem, they have a story about someone moving from hesitancy towards vaccination.
3. This campaign motivates people with collective intrinsic values around community responsibility
Amazing work!
Supporting Mana Whenua Led Environmental Management
Now is an important time to tautoko our bioheritage champions with narrative strategies we think will build greater understanding and support for Te Tiriti partnerships and a flourishing taiao. As hurtful narratives surrounding He Puapua circulate the media and the halls of parliament, we have been working with the Bioheritage National Science Challenge team on a messaging gude about co-governance partnerships. Keep an eye out for the guide, due to be released next month.
Notes from the Narrative Movement
Daniel Kahneman – Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other
We really enjoyed Krista Tippett’s recent interview with Daniel Kahneman which discusses his childhood in Nazi Germany, the origins of his interest in social psychology and the ‘irrationality’ of humans. At the Workshop we draw on Kahneman’s research and writing in our narratives for change work and Kahneman’s 2011 book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ is a key text we reference in our Narratives for Change foundations training.
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?i=1000520494598
Words Matter: Talking about Mothers, Work and the Pandemic
This blog on framing mothers and work is a reminder of how important it is to be aware of the unhelpful frame and narrative that is used to explain many issues of inequity: personal choice. In this case the frame is that women's personal choices have caused them to leave the workforce in the wake of COVID-19. With all issues of inequity, where we are working on changing the things that will make the biggest difference, we should avoid a choice frame and instead employ an external forces frames, to help people see the people and the processes that constrict and constrain people's options and lead to inequities in society.
The Role of Narrative Change in Collective Action
In this dynamic discussion, described as a “master class on narrative” from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit, Melody Barnes (Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions) leads a conversation on the importance and power of narrative in collective social change efforts.
https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/resources/role-narrative-change-collective-action
You can get more guidance on narratives on topics from transport, climate change and justice reform in our freely available message guides on our website.
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Get in touch with Rachel@theworkshop.org.nz if you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with specific advice or do training for your team
Marianne, Jess, Sharon, Lucia and Rachel, at The Workshop