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The purpose of this paper is to understand how the contextual factors of health crisis information needs are different from a general health context and how these factors work together to shape human information needs.

This study collected the COVID-19-related questions posted on a Chinese social Q&A website for a period of 90 days since the pandemic outbreak in China. A qualitative thematic approach was applied to analyze the 1,681 valid questions using an open coding process.

A taxonomy of information need topics for a health crisis context that identifies 8 main categories and 33 subcategories was developed, from which four overarching themes were extracted. These include understanding, clarification and preparation; affection expression of worries and confidence; coping with a challenging situation and resuming normal life; and social roles in the pandemic. The authors discussed the differences between a health crisis and a normal health context shaping information needs. Finally, a conceptual framework was developed to illustrate the typology, nature and triggers of health crisis information needs.

First, only the Baidu Zhidao platform was investigated, and caution is advised before assuming the generalizability of the results, as the questioners of Baidu Zhidao are not representative of the whole population. Furthermore, since at the time of writing the COVID-19 is still in an emerging and evolving situation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020), the collected data included only a relatively small sample size compared to the post-pandemic period, and this might have impact on the interpretation of the study’s findings.

The study’s taxonomy of information needs provides a reference for indexing and organizing related information during a disaster.

The study helps authoritative organizations track and send information in social media and to inform about policies related to the pandemic (e.g., quarantine and traffic control policies in our study) to the right people in the right regions and settings when the next disaster emerges.

The taxonomy of information need topics for a health crisis context can be used to index and organize related information during a disaster and support many information agents to enhance their information service practices. It also deepens the understanding of the formation mechanism of information needs during a global health crisis.

This research explores the consequences of a health crisis provoked by a pandemic scenario on music festival impacts considered by the stakeholders involved. The purpose of this paper is to identify the perceptions from the stakeholders' point of view (host community, public and private sector) and to identify the impacts generated before and after a health crisis regarding the celebration of a festival.

The study offers a holistic insight into impact research by music festivals. The methodology implemented is based on qualitative techniques. By conducting 20 in-depth interviews with essential stakeholders, it is possible to determine their perceptions of the impact of the event and the effects of a health crisis.

The results allow detecting a gap between internal and external stakeholders due to poor communication and planning of the event. The results show that a health crisis provokes negative impacts on the economic benefits of events' organisation. However, the cultural city's identity suffers an important damage that it is difficult to overcome. The community and visitors are the stakeholders that suffer a detrimental impact on their experience when attending the festival, considering the security measures. Moreover, results allow us to identify practical implications for event management and planning in a health crisis scenario.

The most important contribution of this research is the theoretical model proposed to analyse stakeholders' perception of the event celebration in a context of a health crisis. The model also considers different moments of the social exchange. The theoretical approaches considered theory of social exchange (SET) and Visitor, Industry, Community and Environment (VICE) models allow analysing the stakeholder's perception of a case study of a music festival (Viña Rock Festival, Spain). The emerging and central role of the cooperation between stakeholders constitutes another notable contribution to the literature.

Online travel agencies (OTAs) have an important role to play in reactivating tourism activity following a health crisis by providing information about the health conditions of tourist destinations. Once developed, it is necessary to analyze the effectiveness of the information provided and ascertain whether the provision of such information effects the understanding of the value of using OTAs and, in turn, the intention to do so.

This paper, based on an empirical case study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, examines whether following a health crisis, the quality of information provided by OTAs on the health conditions of tourist destinations and the perceived value of their offer generate a greater OTA services reuse intention, and signals, therefore, a return to travel.

The results show the quality of the information positively influences the perceived value, but not the OTA services reuse intention. Rather, the perceived value positively influences the OTA services reuse intention.

Overall, it can be suggested that providing quality health information for a destination is a necessary strategy because it contributes to increasing the perceived value of OTAs. To incentivize the intention for repeated use of OTA services, it is necessary to consider the perceived value that influences the intention to make repeat OTA reservations.

This research offers a novel perspective about the OTAs’ contribution to the recovery of the activity of the tourism industry after a health crisis. This contributes to achieving a more resilient sector in the face of future health crises.

This study aims to explore public coping strategies with government-imposed lockdown restrictions (i.e. forced compliance) due to a health crisis (i.e. COVID-19). This directly impacts the public's power, as they may feel alienated from their environment and from others. Consequently, this study explores the relationships between the public's power, quality of life and crisis-coping strategies. This is important to help governments understand public discourse surrounding perceived government health crisis communication, which aids effective policy development.

An online questionnaire distributed via Qualtrics received 371 responses from the South African public and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate the public's experience of powerlessness and resulting information-sharing, negative word-of-mouth and support-seeking as crisis coping strategies in response to government-imposed lockdown restrictions.

The public's perspective on health crisis communication used in this study sheds light on adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies that the public employs due to the alienation they feel during a health crisis with government-forced compliance. The findings add to the sparse research on crisis communication from the public perspective in a developing country context and provide insights for governments in developing health crisis communication strategies. The results give insight into developing policies related to community engagement and citizen participation during a pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a police department's Post-Crisis Assistance Program (PCAP) for consumers who experienced a police-abated mental health crisis. The authors analyzed three questions: First, does PCAP reduce a consumer's future mental health calls for service (CFS)? Second, does PCAP reduce a consumer's odds of being arrested? Third, does PCAP reduce the odds of a consumer being taken into emergency protective custody (EPC)?

The authors use propensity score matching to analyze data from a sample of individuals (n=739) who experienced a police-abated mental health crisis.

The authors find that PCAP consumers generated fewer mental health CFS, were less likely to be arrested, and were less likely to be taken into EPC than non-PCAP consumers six months following a police-abated mental health crisis.

The research only examined outcomes six months after a mental health crisis. The authors encourage future research to examine whether the benefits of PCAP persist over longer periods of time.

The study demonstrates that partnerships between police departments and local mental health groups can help police officers better serve citizens with mental health conditions.

To the knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the impact of a PCAP for citizens experiencing police-abated mental health crises.

The use of accessible, portable, mental health crisis information in people with intellectual disabilities has not been previously reported. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether crisis information could be modified to be made accessible and meaningful for people with intellectual disabilities.

Personalized information to help in a mental health crisis was recorded on folded A4 sized sheets that could be carried in a conveniently sized wallet.

Three quarters of the participants carried their crisis information wallets on a daily basis for six months before evaluation. They and their carers expressed positive feedback about them carrying the crisis information. No one carrying the information actually experienced a mental health crisis in the six months follow up period so their usefulness in such crises could not be evaluated. However, they were unexpectedly used in other non‐mental health settings and reported to have been helpful.

The sample size in this was small but the findings suggested that the carrying of crisis information might be a helpful measure for some people with intellectual disabilities. A further, larger scale trial is warranted.

The purpose of this study, accordingly, is to not only offer insights about Arab international students’ stress management and adjustment mechanisms while abroad but also bring to light the extent to which these digital citizens’ use of social media networks reinforces their citizenship values and preserves their national identity during the COVID-19 global health crisis.

The researcher adopted the descriptive approach, which is the appropriate scientific method for this type of research studies, grounded on an examination of the reality or phenomenon, depending on its quantitative analysis and its accurate description by means of collecting data, using the measurement tool of questionnaire to identify the role of social media in relation to citizenship during the COVID-19 global health crisis.

Jordanian exchange students heavily rely on social media during the pandemic, choosing Facebook as their most favorable choice during the pandemic to connect with family and friends near and far, while choosing WhatsApp as the most favorable choice for promoting citizenship values during the pandemic, with an average willingness to actually discuss citizenship through social media. The findings affirm results and conclusions of previous studies about the crucial role of social media in international students’ cross-cultural experiences, especially during stressful events like the COVID-19 global health crisis.

Unfortunately, and even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 global health crisis, Arab international students, including exchange students, are already underrepresented in studies of international students’ adjustment and stress management in hosting countries (Farrugia et al., 2017; Meleis, 1982). This marginalization, or partial exclusion, of Arab international students’ experiences abroad should alert scholars of missed research opportunities that should alter existing knowledge about international students, especially when we realize, for example, that Arab international students showed the highest stress level among international students – including Asians who, according to previous studies, usually struggle the most (Bai, 2016:103).

In the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis, destinations are facing the challenging task of reopening their borders while keeping resident population safe. Destination communities help to flatten the infection curve while tourists contribute to spread the virus. This chapter explores the impacts of a health crisis on stakeholders' emotional solidarity and support for tourism. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with different stakeholders. Findings show that informants who perceive socioeconomic tourism benefits are likely to support it in exchange for appropriate health measures. Others affected sociopsychologically by the pandemic feel negative emotional solidarity toward foreign tourists. Thus, delineating the role of a health crisis becomes a crucial research question that can contribute to academic understanding of support for tourism. As uncertainty over border reopening currently affects 24% countries worldwide, these findings can be relevant to policymakers.

This study aims to evaluate a training in mental health crisis support for non-mental health professionals who work in urgent care settings. The training consists of an e-learning module, a one-day face-to-face (F2F) interactive study day and simulation training.

This multi-methods study collected data pre and post training and at three to six months post training. Validated questionnaires, rating scales and open-ended questions were used to measure self-efficacy in health-care skills, attitudes towards mental illness and knowledge and confidence in working in mental health. A subsample of participants was interviewed post training about how they had used the knowledge and skills learned.

A total of 706 staff completed the e-learning, 88 attended the F2F training and 203 attended simulation training. Overall satisfaction with the training was high, with F2F and simulation training preferred. Statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy for health-care skills, positive attitudes towards mental illness, and mental health-related knowledge and confidence were found post training. Qualitative analyses of interview and survey data indicated that participants had translated learning to practice through improved attitudes and behavioural changes when working with patients experiencing a mental health crisis.

This training improved mental health-related knowledge, confidence and self-efficacy and reduced mental health-related stigma in professionals who provide urgent care to people in mental health crisis. Participants reported changes to their practice following training; this is important as care has been inadequate for this group. Workforce planners and leaders should consider implementing this or similar training widely.

This study investigates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Facebook Page to examine what kinds of information is shared to public using Facebook and how Facebook users share and engage with information during a health crisis situation with a case of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using Facebook Graph API, CDC's Facebook Page posts and users' engagement and reactions for six months from January to June 2020 were collected and analyzed. The posts were categorized into five categories. Users' engagement and reactions include share, comment, like, love, haha, wow, sad and angry.

The findings show that the type of posts have significant association with COVID-19 situation and the level of users' engagement and reactions differs significantly when COVID-19 related information is shared. The findings show that users become more active during health emergency situation. The results provided an insight into how different types of posts gain users' attention and motivation to interact.

This study investigates the use of social media during a national health crisis situation. While literature provides the use of social media during emergency and crisis cases, as health crisis situation is unique in that the boundary of time and location as well as people's daily life, the findings of this study provide an insight into how health authorities could communicate with the public during a health crisis situation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2020-0416