ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the field of risk and crisis communication has emerged from a melting pot of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary approaches where scientific, interpretive, and critical-cultural approaches are not only present but triangulated in the same study. As a function of public relations, crisis communication is meant to prevent or lessen the negative outcomes of a crisis and primarily protect the interests of the organization at the heart of the crisis; it includes instructional, adjusting, and reputation management messages. Both risk and crisis communication seek to “limit, contain, mitigate, and reduce harm”. There are a variety of different crisis stage models, each emerging from different perspectives of crisis communication research. The three-stage model, identifying precrisis, crisis, and post crisis, is the most common model used to separate the events surrounding a crisis for further analysis. One of the most widely adopted models for risk and crisis communication in a health context is crisis and emergency risk communication.
