När "håll i, håll ut, håll avstånd" inte längre fungerar. En innehållsanalys av Region Skånes Facebookinlägg under covid-19-pandemin

Sammanfattning: As of now, we have lived with the Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictions, recommendations and messages for over a year. The constantly repeated messages about the same topic has resulted in people tiring of following restrictions and paying attention, which is what the WHO describes as pandemic fatigue. Meanwhile, fatigue such as this, which could lead to people choosing to ignore or actively resist health communication, has previously been described by researchers as message fatigue. The aim of the study was to analyze how Region Skåne’s Facebook posts during the Covid-19 pandemic could be understood based on message fatigue and the guidelines created by the WHO. As such, the purpose was to contribute to existing knowledge on how to craft messages, in order to determine how to strategically communicate important information during a pandemic. In order to investigate this we conducted a content analysis of Region Skåne’s Facebook posts from February 26 to December 31 2020. Thus, we analyzed to what extent the guidelines by the WHO were reflected in posts, how the posts could be interpreted in relation to the guidelines and message fatigue and how the content changed over time. The study showed that what constitutes good communication depends on the context and the situation and that guidelines, such as the ones developed by the WHO, can be used as guidance and as a foundation for designing messages. However, following guidelines does not automatically mean message fatigue is avoided. Therefore, there is no one way in which organizations should communicate during situations such as pandemics. Thus, the study shows that communication professionals should conduct continuous analysis and adaptation of messages. The study, therefore, highlights the importance of strategic communication in the design of messages.