🚨Preprint alert! We analysed discourse on phage therapy across social media. Most posts were science‑focused, but some misinformation and even horror‑themed phage fiction appeared.
💬Better communication is essential to support awareness & acceptance of phage therapy.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thanks, Jason! I've not yet received your email. Please let me know if you're still interested.
Hi Jason, I'm Eva Krockow, researcher at the University of Leicester. I am interested in finding out how people think about phages. You previously posted a clever phage pun- would you be interested in taking part in a research project? If you'd like to learn more, please email me: emk12@le.ac.uk
Hi! I'm Eva Krockow, researcher at the University of Leicester. I am interested in finding out how people think about phages. This post is fascinating - I love your creative oc! I'd like to invite your participation in a research project. If you'd like to learn more, please email me: emk12@le.ac.uk
New research by @evakrockow.bsky.social et al. finds #AMR messages too technical and unclear
We need clearer, more relatable comms to drive change:
doi.org/10.1093/jaca...
@evakrockow.bsky.social @bsacandjac.bsky.social #JACAMRNews #IDSky
💊Antibiotics are our invisible infrastructure—like fossil fuels, we’re burning through them. 🔥
👏Refreshing metaphor, which links in with my own ongoing work!
#AMR #HealthComms
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
🎓 Big decisions this A-level week? Here are 5 expert tips to guide you through Clearing:
1️⃣ Put things in perspective
2️⃣ Use simple rules of thumb
3️⃣ Trust your gut
4️⃣ Seek second opinions
5️⃣ Stay calm—you’ve got this 💪
#Clearing2025 #ALevelResults
@uniofleicester.bsky.social
🔗shorturl.at/i4L2Q
🦠 Why do public messages about #AntimicrobialResistance (AMR) fall flat?
Our research shows that most #AMR messaging is too technical, unclear, and lacks personal relevance
💡 Want to change minds? Make it personal, positive, and punchy.
shorturl.at/otjt5
Well done to our PhD student Meghann Jones for her excellent presentation on antidepressant prescribing choices in primary care at today's PGR conference. 👏
Great workshop today on our research into #antibioticresistance communication, co-presented with @sam-mkumbuzi.bsky.social (University of Cape Town). Big thanks to everyone for the insightful comments and suggestions - great to keep conversations going over lunch! #AMR #RiskCommunication
Fantastic to see @debbamber.bsky.social present ethnographic data on behavioural and social factors impacting blood culture sampling at the annual ABC Workshop. Great work as part of our NIHR-funded iSAMPLE project!
Excellent talk by @miroslavsirota.bsky.social arguing that 'wicked learning environments' create misguided intuitions and expectations about antibiotics.
Eva M. Krockow (presenter), Samkele Mkumbuzi, David Jenkins, Carolyn Tarrant, Marc Mendelson Effective risk communication is paramount to addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). A key prerequisite to successful communication is the use of appropriate health risk messages. Previous language has been criticised as abstract and inconsistent. This study aimed to explore perceptions and risk communication needs of patients and healthcare professionals to lay the groundwork for the development of new, improved global health messages about AMR. Across the UK and South Africa, we recruited patients with ... multidrug-resistant infections and frontline prescribers of antibiotics to discuss existing risk communication materials, explore knowledge gaps and identify needs for improved health messages .... ..., we identified key themes and mapped these against the theoretical components of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Participants experienced current risk communication as overly “sciency”, culturally inauthentic and “draconian”, attributing unfair blame to uninformed patients. Knowledge gaps often pertained to basic scientific principles, with patients being unaware of the existence of different types of microbes or unable to tell them apart. Doctors highlighted lack of time as a key barrier to more detailed explanations of AMR. Overall, patients reported a lack of motivation and capability to engage with AMR messages. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this suggests that central processing and detailed elaboration of AMR risk information is unlikely in lay audiences. To increase persuasiveness of AMR messaging, our findings suggest the need for more engaging information materials with the power to prompt behaviour change even via a peripheral route of information processing. Messages will need to be tailored to existing knowledge levels, take into account cultural background, and communicate basic information without attributing blame.
Abstract Objective: This study examined perceptions of current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) communications to improve future messaging, counter misinformation, and promote behaviour change. It extends previous research through focus groups with doctors and patients, analysed using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). Methods: We held 3 focus groups (n=15) with UK patients with recent experience of AMR and 4 (n=14) with hospital doctors experienced in AMR treatment and communication. Semi-structured questions explored perceptions of public AMR messaging. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Most participants found public AMR information difficult to access, overly technical, and unclear. They struggled to find personal and cultural relevance, described the tone as punitive and highlighted contradictory advice (e.g., discouraging antibiotic use while recommending full course completion), undermining argument quality. Some appreciated buzzwords like ‘superbugs’, but most felt that messages lacked impact and “punch”. When viewed through the ELM, the problematic tone and lack of personalisation reduced recipients’ motivation. The lack of readily available, clear information hindered their ability to engage in central route processing, reducing the likelihood of elaboration and subsequent persuasion. Attitude change from peripheral route information processing was equally questionable given the lack of persuasive message cues. Conclusions: Current AMR messaging is insufficient and risk communication theory could highlight areas for improvement. Our ELM analysis suggests a need to enhance motivation, capability, and argument quality while adding persuasive, peripheral cues. Personally and culturally tailored messages with a positive, solution-focused tone and simplified, engaging language may boost impact and promote lasting attitude change.
First, @evakrockow.bsky.social et al.
"...Public and professional views on #risk communication about #antimicrobialResistance across the #UK and #SouthAfrica"
Hurdles:
- patient awareness, motivation, capacity to understand
- clinician's scarce time
🔓 Preprint about UK data osf.io/preprints/ps...
Finally I get to meet @cortneyprice.bsky.social in person! Inspiring and hugely engaging talk on behavioural science in #AMR, touching on experiential strategies for policy influence.
Excited to be in Vienna for this year's Behavioural Insights & Antimicrobial Resistance Workshop by the ABC network. Looking forward to a stimulating day and interesting discussions! Thanks for hosting us,
@robertboehm.bsky.social!
#AMR
#antibioticresistance
Scoping review of barriers and facilitators of optimal blood culture sampling for patients with severe infection highlights gaps in the evidence:
doi.org/10.1093/jaca...
@debbamber.bsky.social @evakrockow.bsky.social @bsacandjac.bsky.social #JACAMRNews
💉COVID-19 vaccine decision-making and the role of institutions across the pandemic in UK Black African and Black Caribbean communities
We explored #COVID19 vaccination attitudes & found evidence for enduring institutional mistrust shorturl.at/TLrTf
📣 Risk communication about antimicrobial resistance: A content analysis of metaphor use in global public discourse
We show that #AMR discourse is rife with metaphor, but argue that conventional phrases like "war against superbugs" won't change behaviour.
shorturl.at/IttiS
It's publication day! 📄 By some odd coincidence, I had two papers and one preprint published in one day (whoop whoop)! Here's a brief overview (a 🧵)
Thanks to my brilliant co-authors, incl. Carolyn Tarrant,
@marcmendelson.bsky.social, & Stephen Flusberg!
💬 Why Antimicrobial Resistance Messaging Fails: Qualitative Insights Through the Elaboration Likelihood Model
In this preprint, we examine qualitative data from UK patients & doctors through the Elaboration Likelihood model.
shorturl.at/RRTlU
📣 New paper led by the fantastic @debbamber.bsky.social. We review the literature on factors associated with reliable blood culture sampling in hospitals and find that existing research has been dominated by a focus on individual levels of influence.
And another rapid unscheduled metaphor! blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingscienc...
Very excited for today's invited speaker. @olgakos.bsky.social will be sharing her work on algorithms to support medical decision making.
Can't wait to see what you come up with!
#AMR awareness and education is one of the 40
@WHO
global research priorities for #antimicrobialresistance in human health.
We need to do better in engaging the general public on this existential health threat.
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Do you regularly take or order bloods for acute hospital patients? We want to hear about your experiences and views in a short online survey!
redcap.lcbru.le.ac.uk/surveys/?s=F...
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens - perfect way to end a fantastic trip!
I've had a fantastic and hugely productive research visit to South Africa. One highlight was a creative session on visualising #AMR metaphors facilitated by the wonderful Natalie Schellack. Thank you for having me - it was so much fun!
Looking forward to a week of meetings with @marcmendelson.bsky.social, Esmita Charani, @ehwoza.bsky.social and Natalie Schellack, but for now I'm simply enjoying the beauty of this incredible country! #SouthAfrica
