Saudi Media Campaigns During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Research Question
Literature Review
Methodology
Research Design and Method
Discussion
References

Abstract

The measures taken by the responsible authorities to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent its spread include various interventions. As an example of targeted activities, the work of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health will be examined in terms of the effectiveness of awareness media campaigns promoted in the country to manage the current crisis during the epidemic. As a methodology, an analytical cross-sectional study will be conducted to determine the association between two variables – the success of the six-month work and its impact on public safety. As a sample, a large random community will be involved, and key data will be collected through surveys. The planned research will last about two months, which is necessary for conducting a detailed literature review, testing the theoretical framework, interacting with the target audience, and interpreting the results. In addition, an ethical approval from the relevant committee is to be obtained. The significance of this study lies in an opportunity to assess the relevance of those awareness campaigns promoted by the Ministry of Health of the KSA during the pandemic to draw conclusions about their relevance and value.

Keywords: pandemic, Ministry, health, media, campaign, awareness

The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected social, economic, and other aspects of life significantly. Saudi Arabia, like most of the world’s countries, has felt the consequences of the dangerous coronavirus. Today, the state is doing everything possible to prevent a second wave of the epidemic, and according to the current data of August, 25, 1,114 confirmed cases of the disease have been registered in the country, which is almost twice less than a month ago (2,201 cases) (“Saudi Arabia Overview,” 2020). At the same time, measures to combat the dangerous virus were adopted long ago. In March, the country’s Ministry of Health worked with the World Health Organization (2020) to create conditions for the effective prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Earlier, in February, the Ministry of Health (2020) presented a comprehensive report describing the epidemiology of the virus, prevention measures, and objectives for all stakeholders. However, this report included only official recommendations and information from the main health authority. One should note that the media coverage of the COVID-19 problem and campaigns initiated by the Ministry of Health have also become part of the ideological work to counter the coronavirus.

This research proposal aims to describe the effectiveness of Saudi media campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a methodology, an analytical cross-sectional study will be conducted to determine the relationship between awareness media projects initiated by the country’s Ministry of Health and their impact on public health outcomes. A literature review will provide an opportunity to collect relevant data and highlight the appropriate theoretical framework for conducting an objective analysis of the topic under consideration. The timeline and budget of the proposed study will be determined based on the period from the start of active coronavirus prevention measures to the present. This proposal will help assess the relevance and effectiveness of Saudi media campaigns under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and provide specific data on the results of these programs.

Research Question

To analyze the proposed topic, the formulation of a research question is an essential step. This will allow identifying the area of interest and provide the main variables for comparison in the framework of the planned analytical study. While taking the designated topic, the research question may be as follows: have the Saudi Ministry of Health’s awareness media campaigns been sufficiently effective for the six-month period since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Literature Review

As a key tool for collecting an evidence base, a literature review will be conducted. For this work, relevant scholarly resources will be engaged that correspond to the topic in question and can offer researchers; unique views on COVID-19 prevention in Saudi Arabia through media campaigns. Numerous authors evaluate the pandemic in the KSA, but in many articles, the role of the media is negligible. For instance, Barry et al. (2020) and Ebrahim and Memish (2020) assess the preparedness of the state to combat COVID-19, but the key emphasis is on analyzing preventive and mitigation measures. Al-Tawfiq and Memish (2020) also describe ways to counter the coronavirus through sanitary-therapeutic interventions with a focus on the preparedness of the state healthcare for the pandemic. Yezli and Khan (2020), in turn, assess social distancing as one of the COVID-19 prevention measures and mention the Ministries of Health, Sports, and Culture without emphasizing unique approaches. All these aspects are important for evaluating the pandemic problem, but they do not reflect the role of media campaigns and their impact on the spread of the disease.

At the same time, individual studies are focused on analyzing the role of relevant media platforms in preventing the pandemic in the KSA. According to Alkhamees et al. (2020), immediately after the first case of the COVID-19 infection in Saudi Arabia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the government launched a media program designed to convey to the population the importance of social isolation during the pandemic. Special instructions were issued at the end of March, and a quarantine regime was introduced in a number of large cities. Waheed et al. (2020) draws attention to the social media function during the pandemic and assess the role of WhatsApp as a popular digital communication platform. The researchers confirm that the use of this application paid off: 31.65% of all blood donors were recruited via WhatsApp messages (Waheed et al., 2020, p. 1). Thurston (2020), in turn, mentions the campaign called “Before Disaster/Qabl al-Karitha” aimed “to agitate anew for the release of prisoners” to slow the spread of the coronavirus (p. 16). All these measures prove the active involvement of the media in the fight against COVID-19 in the KSA.

Individual articles offer a valuable methodological base and may be utilized as a background for a theoretical framework for the ongoing research proposal. In particular, Bonyan et al. (2020) conduct a cross-sectional study aimed to assess how effective the awareness level of the population was during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. The researchers note the role of such social media platforms as WhatsApp and Facebook and cite their valuable function as a tool to attract target audiences to participate in the study (Bonyan et al., 2020). As a result, the role of the media sector is assessed as significant for the formation of a preventive attitude towards the pandemic. Shahin et al. (2020) offer similar data and apply the identical type of research – a cross-sectional study. The authors consider different media outlets essential instruments to notify the population about the threat of the coronavirus and reduce the incidence rate (Shahin et al., 2020). Thus, the function of media campaigns is important with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In many academic sources, the impact of social media on human behavior during the pandemic is mentioned. For instance, Zitoun (2020) and Garrett (2020) draw attention to false information in the media space and the importance of combating it to reduce public panic and rule out any conspiracy theories. Bisanzio et al. (2020) highlight the use of Twitter as a tool to predict “the spatiotemporal spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19” (p. 19). Obied et al. (2020), in turn, turn to the online environment as a potentially powerful instrument to raise the public awareness of the pandemic and enable remote service delivery through ad hoc campaigns and consumer engagement programs. In addition, different social institutions are involved through relevant media campaigns, including family and religion. Li et al. (2020) emphasize the importance of online communication between psychologists and parents to improve the level of people’s health education and provide moral support. Atique and Itumalla (2020) describe media calls for Muslims to pay attention to the Hajj conventions during the pandemic. All these campaigns can be assessed as valuable drivers of preventing the spread of the coronavirus among the population.

Theoretical Framework

Based on the conducted literature review and the assessment of the diversity of media campaigns in Saudi Arabia to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the population, one can propose a suitable theoretical framework to apply to the planned study. Since the articles by Bonyan et al. (2020) and Shahin et al. (2020) reflect a direct relationship between the variables of media exposure and the coronavirus infection, the methodological basis of these studies can be applied as a background. In particular, a cross-sectional analytical study is a potentially efficient mechanism to assess how productive and well-grounded awareness media campaigns were during the COVID-19 pandemic in the KSA. According to Keil et al. (2020), such a methodological approach may help evaluate the impact of one variable on the other by using an appropriate sample and the necessary data as a rationale. Consequently, when conducting research on the impact of media campaigns promoted by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health on crisis management during the pandemic, one should take into account the direct correlation between these two variables. Thus, the proposed theoretical framework is a convenient basis for further research work.

Methodology

Since the future study is planned to be carried out within one country and assess the interaction between the two variables, the cross-sectional principle of data collection and processing is optimal. The target group of participants will be determined, and the data collection method will be based on a qualitative approach through surveys. As tools for assessing the information collected, general criteria of interdependence will be presented based on two variables under consideration – the effectiveness of awareness media campaigns carried out by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the value of this work in dealing with the crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ethical aspects of the study will be determined, and timeline and budget parameters will be proposed to obtain a comprehensive picture of the work ahead. The value of the presented methodology lies in an opportunity to conduct a detailed analysis of the topic in question and answer the research question posed.

Research Design and Method

As a research design, an analytical cross-sectional study will be applied. Alghamdi et al. (2020) utilize the same design to review the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and note that this approach to testing their idea of the effects of measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease in the KSA on people’s mental health. This research principle makes it possible to engage a large sample and use objective data about a specific problem through direct interaction with the target audience. In the planned study, participants will be asked questions to assess respondents’ views on the effectiveness of the Saudi Ministry of Health’s program in promoting awareness media campaigns to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Based on these data, specific information will be obtained and analyzed in relation to the total number of participants involved. This approach is a convenient form of evaluating the relationship between the two proposed variables.

Sample

As a sample, a dedicated community of randomly selected members is chosen to explore whether media awareness campaigns carried out by the Saudi Ministry of Health have helped the population or not to avoid the coronavirus. The larger will be the number of participants, the higher is the likelihood of obtaining objective and accurate data since not a separate demographic criterion is assessed (age, gender, race, or other parameters) but the general prevalence of a particular opinion among the population. As a result, approximately 2,000 members need to be involved from the selected community, and no specific selection criteria should be dominant. As a possible aspect to pay attention to, the participation of those who have already been ill with COVID-19 is encouraged to obtain and compare their opinions on the effectiveness of the Ministry’s proposed preventive measures through the media. However, this factor is not determinative and can be ignored if specific participants are not found.

Data Collection

A comparison will be made of how effective the media campaigns have been in the selected community and what effect they had on the target audience. As data collection tools, surveys and real data on disease dynamics will be applied. As objective sources of information, current online platforms will be applied, which reflect the increase in incidence, the frequency of new cases per day, and the rate of recovery in the population, for instance, the Worldometer website (“Saudi Arabia,” 2020). To assess the data obtained from selected participants, surveys will be prepared with a series of questions about how the Ministry of Health has used media platforms to promote prevention measures against COVID-19 and how effective these efforts have been.

Discussion

To calculate the results, standard statistical techniques will be applied, and the average rate of satisfaction with the proposed media campaigns among the population will be determined. No additional programs or calculation models will be applied since the planned study does not imply assessing the proposed correlation from the perspective of different criteria and is based on the overall comparison of the two variables in question. The analysis of the data obtained will help answer the research question of how effective the awareness media campaigns initiated by the Saudi Ministry of Health have been in addressing the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In case their effectiveness is proven through the answers of the respondents, in the future, this information may be used as a guideline and a list of recommendations for the promotion of epidemic prevention methods.

Limitations

Although the proposed research does not involve complex calculations and comparisons of many variables, there are potential limitations. Firstly, an analytical study assumes a standard analysis that is based on identifying associations and does not involve searching for deep risk factors or outcomes. This means that case the effectiveness of awareness media campaigns in Saudi Arabia is not proven, no additional implications or proposals for intervention will be given. Secondly, the chosen data collection mechanism includes a comprehensive but random and insufficiently accurate mechanism. Research participants may misrepresent information, intentionally or unintentionally, but in any case, the reliability of the data will be distorted. To minimize the negative impact of these limitations, in the section on the significance of the planned work, recommendations will be given regarding subsequent research activities on the proposed topic. In addition, the importance of accurate data will be highlighted to the members of the study as a crucial aspect of scholarly work. These measures can help reduce the likelihood of declining the validity of the proposed study.

Ethics

To comply with research ethics during the research process, all participants involved as a sample for collecting data should sign a written agreement to consent to the processing of information, and anonymity should be taken into account if desired. In addition, members of the respondent need to should understand the relevance of the study and its importance since the ignorance of the background of the issue can become a limitation in obtaining reliable data from the target audience. As a further measure to ensure that the planned research is ethical, an approval for research work should be obtained from the relevant committee. Finally, all provisions the code of ethical conduct for research involving human participants should be observed to exclude bias or the deliberate distortion of facts in respondents’ answers. The proposed measures are mandatory for a scholarly study in accordance with all the rules of contemporary academic research.

Communicating the Results

To communicate the results of the planned research as efficiently as possible, publication in a scholarly journal is a convenient way. All participants who have expressed a desire to obtain the outcomes of the work done should receive appropriate emails with specific estimates. In addition, if an association between the proposed variables is proven, both the academic community and the responsible officials need to be notified of the research results. Interaction with the Ministry of Health is an important aspect of feedback. Since the topic concerns the socially significant area of protecting public health, the outcomes can be presented in the form of a report to convey the relevance of the measures and communicate the risks and threats of COVID-19 to develop valuable campaigns in the future if needed.

Significance of Research

The significance of the planned study lies in an opportunity to prove a positive association between awareness media campaigns carried out in Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Health and effective crisis management and public assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This activity is important in the context of mass enthusiasm for digital platforms, and information sent through modern media is a potentially effective mechanism. Tasnim et al. (2020) confirm the relevance of this approach during past pandemics (H1N1 influenza, Ebola, and other dangerous diseases) and note the convenience of communicating relevant guidelines through the media. If a positive association is proven, further research in this field can be directed towards a deeper analysis, for instance, assessing the impact of media campaigns on certain groups of the population or the role of specific media platforms in this work.

Timeline

Although the scope of the study covers a half-year period from the start of the pandemic to the present, the timeline for the planned work will be shorter. It may take a week to conduct a literature review and search for justifications for the background of the issue. The same period is required to obtain an approval form a specific ethics committee. Direct research work involving design testing, theoretical framework assessment, data collection, and the analysis of findings can take from one month to a month and a half. Publishing in a respective academic journal or another resource is not included in the general timeline. This means that the planned analytical study can be completed in two months.

Budget

For the planned research, budgetary funds are needed to prepare the necessary surveys for the participants, pay for the services of assistants involved in the analysis of the results obtained, and publish the finished article in a specific academic journal. The purchase of corresponding consumables need to be completed (paper, stationery), but most of the available money will be spent on paying the team of researchers transcribing the study results. To interact with the target audience and colleagues, no additional funds are required since interaction can be carried out either online via email or text messengers or via mobile communication.

References

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