Healthy communication : A text analytics study of The Public Health Agency of Sweden’s strategies for creating transparency within risk information during the coronavirus pandemic

In Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic the Public Health Agency of Sweden assumed the major responsibility for communication and information dissemination about the contagion, and made efforts on preventive work and the risk mitigation. To successfully mitigate the risks it is important for the Public Health Agency to be transparent in their risk communication, in order to gain and strenghten the public’s trust towards their institution, which is a prerequisite for them to be able to work efficiently in changing public behaviour in the population. This study examines what strategies the Public Health Agency of Sweden has used to create transparency within their risk communication, with the theoretical perspective of scholarly communication and information making. The study was conducted by analysing texts in the form of news articles published on the agency’s own website. The study identified eleven different strategies the agency has used in their risk communication, from referring to expert knowledge, to using a language that is accessible to the whole public