Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Mumps Outbreaks in Canada

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Appendix 6: Case Study – Communications in Nova Scotia during the 2007 Mumps Outbreak

More than half (59%) of the people affected in the Nova Scotia mumps outbreak of 2007 were between the ages of 20 and 29. Most were post-secondary students and, because of their lifestyle, the disease spread primarily in social situations like bars and shared housing. Because this population was the most at risk to acquire and spread the infection, post-secondary students were a clear target audience for public health messages.

In order to reduce the rate of transmission and limit the number of cases, it was important that this group receive a second dose of MMR vaccine, practice social distancing and hygiene measures if they were already infected, and stop risky behaviour, like sharing drinks.

However, communicators at Nova Scotia’s department of Health Promotion and Protection found that traditional means of communication (news releases, fact sheets, etc.) were ineffective in reaching this audience. During the mumps outbreaks in Nova Scotia, communicators used alternative means to reach this audience:

• LCD/TV displays run by Volt Media on university campuses.
• Messages on university Web sites and through local students' unions.
• Very edgy posters for use on campus and in bus shelters near campus bus stops (<http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/mumps/students-parents.html>). The advertising encouraged immunization and explained some of the risks of mumps.
• It was also suggested that this kind of messaging be used in university student hot-spots like bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.
• Development of groups raising awareness of the outbreak on social networking Web sites such as Facebook.

Messages to encourage immunization of post-secondary students were also aimed at their parents through the following:

• Advertising in daily and weekly newspapers urging parents to get their children immunized if they were post-secondary students.
• Letters sent home from post-secondary registrars urging students to be immunized before coming to campus and supplying information on access to on-campus immunization clinics.

Just as there was a cohort of young adults who had not received two doses of MMR vaccine, there was also a cohort of health care workers who had never diagnosed or seen a case of mumps. Communicators at Nova Scotia’s department of Health Promotion and Protection worked with communicators at Doctors Nova Scotia (a professional association) to distribute to their members fact sheets and videos on how to diagnose mumps.

A third target audience was the media, and they had a high demand for information. The resulting media coverage allowed public health messages to reach secondary audiences like the parents of young adults at risk of mumps infection, health care workers, and the public. The media were very receptive to interviews with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and there were frequent media briefings to provide updates on the number of cases, age groups, and geographic areas affected by the outbreak.

During the peak of the outbreak, media briefings were restricted to once a week as the statistics were changing so rapidly that reporting more frequently would have been ineffective. After the peak period, statistics were still made available each Friday. However, numbers were not proactively distributed to the media. Instead, a note to editors was issued inviting them to contact the department of Health Promotion and Protection if they were interested in the latest statistics.

Overall, it was found to be important to segment the audiences and deliver messages in a suitable way for each. Some audiences to consider in a mumps outbreak are the at-risk population, parents/legal guardians, school administrators, health care workers, and the media.

 

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