The Role of Tailored Public Health Messaging to Young Adults during COVID-19: “There’s a lot of ambiguity around what it means to be safe”

What is it about?

Since summer 2020, young adults aged 19-40 have had the highest infection rate and were viewed as a major cause for community spread of COVID-19. They faced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, working in high-risk, low-paying essential service occupations, as well as having higher levels of financial insecurity and mental burden. This qualitative study explores the attitudes and perspectives of young adults on COVID-19 in British Columbia to better inform public health messaging. A total of 50 young adults living in British Columbia, Canada, were recruited to participate in group discussions in groups of four to six through Zoom. Analysis of the discussions revealed four major themes: 1) chances of getting the disease, 2) the perceived impact of COVID-19, 3) responsibility of government, media and individual, 4) and effective public health messaging. Contrary to current media, our findings suggest young adults feel highly responsible for protecting themselves and others. While young adults may have questions and concerns towards public health messaging, a traditional broadcasting one-way communication strategy makes voicing concerns difficult. Our findings suggest messages that reach young adults should have a positive messaging, reflect lived experiences of this age group, and be delivered on an accessible platform for two-way communication.

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