The Centre for Pandemics and One-health Research (P1H) aims to conduct a series of interviews, “P1H Coffee Break”, with researchers to raise understanding and awareness regarding the field of pandemics and One-health.
What motivated you to do research on this topic?
My interest is really digging into understanding how trust is built in the process of a pandemic outbreak. It is to understand the risk communication that has taken place from the public health authorities from the start and how they communicate throughout the pandemic. That is my basic interest to understand and, if possible, also contribute to helping before the next pandemic.
What is the aim of the research?
The aim is to understand the processes, the negotiations that are taking place concerning risk and concerning trust. Additionally, to understand how public health authorities are communicating about risk and the crisis itself when the crisis has actually started. So, understanding how trust is negotiated between the public health authorities and the citizens.
Would you say that the COVID-19 pandemic has built more trust or distrust among the population when it comes to communication regarding healthcare?
I firmly believe that looking at the surveys that have been conducted throughout the pandemic, that the trust level has been remarkably high, in Norway at least.
It has been a tendency that trust has decreased a little bit for politicians, but for the public health authorities in general, it has been remarkably stable, I have to say. Some dips every now and then, basically driven by how people thought the measures were, for example that the measures are not really strict enough or some instances like that.
Why is this topic important?
Trust is really the glue of society. It is what binds us together. We must have a certain level of trust, not blind trust, but a certain level of trust in the public health authorities for instance and a certain level of trust in other citizens as well. So, it is a matter of importance for society. It is also really important for compliance when the public health authorities issue advices, decide on regulations and rules, and want people to comply. People really need to feel that this is in our basic interest, that this is in our own interest.
How are studies on pandemics or One Health related to your field of research?
I would say that the basic trust level is really what is of importance here. The trust in how the public health authorities have the competence, have integrity, and have our best interest in mind. That is crucial for public health authorities to be able to tackle the pandemic.
How would you describe your research in three words?
I'm studying strategic communication and rhetoric for trust building.
You focus your research on Norway, but would you like the research to extend to other countries?
Sure. The initial project focused on Scandinavia, so we do comparisons with Sweden and Denmark. This makes the COVID pandemic really interesting because, as you know, Sweden chose a different path than the other countries. And what did that mean for trust? What we have seen is this certain tendency what in research has been called “rally around the flag”: people support the public health authorities and their governments in times of crisis. But when the crisis is prolonged, as the pandemic was, the trust levels tend to decline a little bit as the crisis drags on, and people start asking critical questions: was this really the right way to tackle the pandemic and so forth? So, you can see different levels of trust in these countries.
Thank you to Øyvind for participating in this interview. Check out our Instagram at @unioslo_cp1h to see snippets of the interview.