- One of our department professors, Assoc. Prof. Tuğba Yılmaz's work with her colleagues was published in the Turkish Review of Communication Studies journal.

- This study examines the effects of the communication contents designed in the context of COVID-19 on individuals’ protection motivations and behaviors. It aims to understand the mechanism for increasing the protection motivation of individuals and to develop communication processes that will activate this mechanism, based on the importance of individual measures in avoiding the negative consequences of COVID-19. The research carried out for this purpose consists of two separate studies. The first study examined motivational factors affecting individuals’ intention to protect through an online questionnaire. The second study carried out laboratory experiments by making use of the between-groups experimental design, and the effect of messages containing fear and rational appeals on the motivation of protection was measured. The findings reveal that perceived severity, self-efficacy, and external response efficacy are positively related to the intention to protect. Additionally, fear appeal has a stronger effect on perceived severity than rational appeal. In the light of findings, suggestions have been developed to make the communication processes related to combating public health problems more effective. In this respect, the results of the study can guide strategies to increase the protection motivation of individuals. In this context, the results are considered important for the health of both individuals and society

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