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The Importance of Developing Rigorous Social Science Methods for Community Engagement and Behavior Change During Outbreak Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2020

Henry C. Ashworth Open the ORCID record for Henry C. Ashworth [Opens in a new window] ,
Sara Dada Open the ORCID record for Sara Dada [Opens in a new window] ,
Conor Buggy Open the ORCID record for Conor Buggy [Opens in a new window]  and
Shelley Lees Open the ORCID record for Shelley Lees [Opens in a new window]
Henry C. Ashworth*
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Vayu Global Health Foundation, Boston, MA
Sara Dada
Affiliation:
Vayu Global Health Foundation, Boston, MA
Conor Buggy
Affiliation:
University College Dublin Centre for Safety and Health at Work, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, Dublin, Ireland
Shelley Lees
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medical, London, UK
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Mr Henry Ashworth, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA02116 (e-mail: henry_ashworth@hms.harvard.edu).
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Abstract

Despite growing international attention, the anthropological and socio-behavioral elements of epidemics continue to be understudied and under resourced and lag behind the traditional outbreak response infrastructure. As seen in the current 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the importance of socio-behavioral elements in understanding transmission and facilitating control of many outbreak-prone pathogens, this is problematic. Beyond the recent strengthening of global outbreak response capacities and global health security measures, a greater focus on the socio-behavioral components of outbreak response is required. We add to the current discussion by briefly highlighting the importance of socio-behavior in the Ebola virus disease (EVD) response, and describe vital areas of future development, including methods for community engagement and validated frameworks for behavioral modeling and change in outbreak settings.

Keywords

behavioral changecommunity engagementCOVID-19Ebolaoutbreak responsesocial science methods
Type
Commentary
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 15 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , pp. 685 - 690
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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