Recommendations for increasing the reach and effectiveness of heat risk education and warning messaging

For this study, authors conducted four focus groups during spring and summer 2021 with 43 individuals who represent, serve, and/or are part of heat-vulnerable communities in San Diego County, California, to elicit recommendations for increasing the reach and effectiveness of heat risk education and warning messaging. A growing number of national, state, and local governments are developing heat health warning systems and emergency preparedness plans to support the public in protecting against extreme heat. However, concern remains about the reach and effectiveness of these interventions in supporting protective action specifically among those individuals and communities most at-risk.

Key recommendations include: (1) diversification of communication channels, (2) specification of content, and (3) development of formally coordinated campaigns. Grounded in local knowledge and experience, these recommendations align with evidence-based support for successful hazard risk communication as well as the increasing valorization of dialogic models of communication. In doing so, they highlight the need for heat-vulnerable communities to be involved in the planning and implementation of interventions meant specifically to support them in taking protective action. Here, the researchers provide a detailed description of those recommendations so that they may be implemented and evaluated in future work and their transferability may be explored across other regions characterized by extreme heat.