Toward improved education of the public about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: A Mental Models Approach

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is ever more becoming a public health problem, due to its prevalence among cattle, raw meat, and otherwise healthy people. Therefore, it is essential that risk communication promotes awareness and recognition of MRSA among the general public, so they can adopt preventive health and infection control measures. In order to do so, a public website for the Dutch general public was developed. Because effective risk communication should be tailored to the public’s relevant beliefs and knowledge (“mental models”), we identified the mental models of the Dutch general public concerning MRSA by means of 17 interviews followed by a confirmatory questionnaire (n=239). Although the majority of the public (62%) heard of MRSA and its well-known risk factors and consequences before via the media, the public was only slightly aware of its threat to society. Misconceptions existed regarding origin and spread (e.g., that MRSA is caused by overburdened muscles). Besides, knowledge gaps were detected concerning prevention, reservoir, and origin (importance of hygiene measures, presence on the skin, MRSA among cattle). These misconceptions and knowledge gaps were corrected in the content of the public website next to basic scientific information about MRSA, which was evaluated by means of a usability test (n=18). Overall, our findings highlight the need for the systematic analysis of the public’s mental models prior to designing risk communication