Narratives are assets that are central to empathy building and effective communication for risk management. Whilst scientists and government agencies typically communicate risk through facts and science, public perceptions of risks (e.g. such as climate change) are not just influenced by facts, but also by cultural beliefs and common experiences. Sharing lived experiences of community members undergoing similar risks can increase public awareness, mobilize support and resources.
Often the risk needs to be framed in the appropriate context, so as to engage the necessary stakeholders and highlight shared responsibility for risk management. While relaying impacts and problems, risk narratives should be positively constructed to maintain a sense of hope about what community members can do instead of engendering fatalism. Uplifting the community through stories of overcoming past hardships can boost collective efficacy, inspiring courage to confront current risks.
- Sharing stories of lived experiences evoke empathy and help persuade members of the public to care about an issue or risk that they may not know about. These stories can be co-created and shared through radio interviews, books, virtual reality (e.g., to stimulate the experience of a person living with dementia) or art and performances. Community theatre is especially useful in empowering communities to share their stories and raise public awareness on a wide range of issues, see Case Study 1.2a for a Singapore example.
- Engage members of the public across generations to reflect on the stories shared. These reflections can be used to create larger dialogue on the issue, address misperceptions, inspire concern, and explore solutions. For example, see Case Study 1.2b of how the forum theatre method has been used by art practitioners in Singapore to stimulate reflection and inspire action on end-of-life planning among older persons and their caregivers.
Tapestry Playback Theatre was used in Bendemeer-Whampoa to promote awareness of the challenges that Persons with Dementia and their caregivers face in the production “Memories Matter”.
Dementia clients and their caregivers, and the public were invited to share their experiences and challenges. These were enacted on the spot to elicit discussion and reflect on how community members can accept and care for persons with dementia.
The forum theatre method has been used by art practitioners such as ArtsWok Collaborative in Singapore to engage older persons in dialogue about issues that matter to them and their family members (e.g., end of life planning) and inspire them to take action. For example, their forum theatre ‘Exit’ tells the story of two families struggling to cope as they confront illness and death.
Could they have handled things better? Audience members are invited to stop the action, jump in, and explore alternatives e.g., if advance care planning was carried out to facilitate decision-making. The method can be used for the audience to better understand an issue, reflect, and analyse alternative solutions to issues faced.
- Use of media to garner attention to the issue or risk in which the community wants to address
- Frame risks that are more structural in nature (e.g., climate change) in the wider context, to highlight shared responsibility for risk management and engage government agencies, the corporate sector, and individuals to do so. Framing of issues is often used in journalism to ‘define problems, diagnose causes, attribute responsibility, and suggest solutions’ through techniques such as selection of story angle, placement, and quotations from officials and citizen. See Case Study 1.2c on how the Ban San Klang community in Thailand, used the media to engage stakeholders towards managing the risk of flooding in their village.
Older persons in Ban San Klang, Thailand, leveraged the Thailand Public Broadcast Television to publicize the threat of flooding in the village, due to cracks in a neighbouring dam, history of floods as well as earthquakes in the village that could exacerbate the crack. Villagers highlighted the responsibility of local Irrigation Office to repair the dam due to the lack of local consultation and consideration of the geography of the land before building it.
As there was no action taken, older persons and village heads protested in front of the Irrigation Office to pressurize them to repair the dam. Subsequent wide media coverage garnered the sympathy of academics, who went on to investigate and expose inadequacies in dam’s construction and mismanagement of local village. Affected by the negative public perception, the office agreed to undertake the first major dam repair in Thailand.
- Emphasize transformative narratives, or narratives of what can be done, and potential for change, over doom and gloom narratives that focuses on problems and adverse impact of risk
- To promote morale and hope, community narratives should seek to remind community members of what they have achieved and can go on to achieve together. Collect and share stories of overcoming past risks or stressors together within the community. In particular, disaster storytelling is especially relevant for disaster education and community recovery, see Case Study 1.2d.
The bravery of the older villagers in facing the flood and earthquake crisis and confronting the local irrigation office to repair the dam made the villagers proud and also affirmed the value of older people in the eyes of young generation. Overcoming this challenge together triggered a sense of community and collective efficacy.
This together with the villagers’ beliefs about protecting spirits in the river, reinforced their commitment to manage the risk of flooding in their village. These memories and cultural beliefs were preserved through video documentaries (see Good Practice 1.3) to remind members of their capability and the importance of managing the risk of natural disasters in their village.
Communities who understand and actively engage the media and other communication platforms to shape risk narratives tend to be more effective in influencing community beliefs about its importance and attitudes towards uniting to address it together (CC1).
Other than sharing of lived experiences to evoke empathy about the impact of a risk, narratives can tap on community values to shape meaning and motivate action. How the risk is framed, in terms of its cause, solutions and stakeholders required to initiate solutions, can foster accountability and shared responsibility of partners to manage the risk.
Lastly, narratives can boost Collective Efficacy (CC3) of communities during times of hardship, especially if they preserve memories of what the community experienced and achieved together.
- As access to mainstream media vary between countries, communities can explore the use of create platforms that are co-managed by community members (e.g., social media, community radio). These platforms can serve as a not-for profit vehicle for the community and voluntary sector, civil society, agencies, NGOs, and citizens to work in partnership to promote community development.
- Characteristics of the stressor, such as the visibility of its impact, as well as the extent of impact on the community members (e.g., prevalence) influences perception of how severe and important it is. For example, stressors affecting a minority of individuals in the community may be harder to gain support on, hence greater empathy and sharing of lived experiences may be required to evoke sympathy and gain support.
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