Public trust in governments, health care providers, and the media during pandemics: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Among the most important factors that determine whether public health recommendations receive widespread adherence during pandemics is public trust in the information disseminated by governments, health care providers, and the media. However, there remains uncertainty pertaining to the role of public trust in the acceptance and maintenance of public health recommendations during outbreaks. This systematic review and thematic analysis examined 41 studies on previous pandemics, epidemics, and global outbreaks in the twenty-first century to identify the relationship between public trust in the government, health care providers, and the media, and the acceptance, uptake, and maintenance of health behaviours that contain the spread of infectious disease. We found inconsistency in public trust towards the government and the media across multiple countries, while trust in health care providers was generally reported to be high with a few exceptions. We identified several unintended outcomes of mistrust when communicating public health recommendations such as non-compliance with recommended health measures, seeking information from alternative sources, and vaccine hesitancy. We conclude this paper by discussing the importance of public trust in promoting compliance with public health recommendations and the uptake of protective behaviours, as well as the downstream implications of mistrust that may develop in the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Public trust
• COVID-19
• systematic review
• prevention
• pandemic planning

Disclosure statement

Umair Majid receives financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Government of Ontario, Canada. Neither party was involved in the design and conduct of this research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Umair Majid

Umair Majid is a research methodologist and researcher based in Toronto, Canada. He has held appointments as a scientist, investigator, instructor, curricula designer, and consultant for organizations and government agencies.

Aghna Wasim

Aghna Wasim completed her Honours Bachelor of Science (HBSc) in Psychology from the University of Toronto. She is currently working as a Research Assistant with Kidney Health Education and Research Group at Toronto General Hospital.

Judy Truong

Judy Truong completed her BSc in biochemistry and human biology at the University of Toronto. She also completed her MSc at the University of Toronto, and studied colon cancer therapies using 3D organoids. Currently, she is pursuing her PharmD at the University of Toronto.

Simran Bakshi

Simran Bakshi is completing an Honours Specialization in Biology (HBSc) at Western University. Currently, she is working as a Research Assistant at the national career-accelerator, Accelerate Her Future.