Educating future researchers in science communication is an important task for a university, and also of great societal relevance. At Karlstad University, Sweden, doctoral students have completed a postgraduate course, titled “Communicating science” for three decades. The course has centred on elements such as popular science writing, oral presentation techniques and media training. The extensive course evaluation survey has, among other things, given feedback on whether the course made the doctoral student better equipped to communicate research outside their own scientific field. This presentation reports on a study of evaluations submitted during a fifteen-year period by a total of 335 doctoral students in the fields of health, natural sciences, technology, humanities and social sciences. The results indicate that the doctoral course has been a successful model, contributing to the growth of the doctoral students, scientifically as well as communicatively.

Introduction: Major Incidents and Disasters are often associated with early, extensive and prolonged media reporting. It is important to understand the interaction between first responders/rescue services and the media to create better conditions for providing and making available correct and objective information to as many people as possible.

Method: A systematic literature review and content analysis was made on all Swedish KAMEDO reports (emergency medicine observations published by the National Board of Healthand Welfare) from the last twenty years, in total 39 reports. KAMEDO’s primary task is to feedback experience data (lessons learned) from disasters worldwide, through expert observers at the site of an emergency event. The aim of this study was to evaluate and analyze the experiences made regarding the interaction between media and healthcare in connection with major incidents and disasters, both on site and in hospitals.

Results: The analysis resulted in the following main themes:

(1) Communication problems and other challenges in Major Incidents and Disasters• No protection and restrictions• Information craving and news hunt• Interviews as intervention

(2) Recommendations for efficient interaction between healthcare and the media:• Strategies from alert to action• Satisfying information needs• Clarity measures on site• Key actors of importance• Proactive media alertness

Conclusion: Some conclusions regarding lessons learned about interaction between healthcare and the media, as well as about communication with the afflicted and citizens, in brief: The hospital management should take control of the communication through efficient communication strategies. An accommodating approach to the media's presence can facilitate the dissemination of the necessary early, correct and balanced information. Joint authority press conferences are a model tested and positively evaluated. Healthcare communicators are key actors in hospital crisis communication and media management. Healthcare and media both benefit from developing routines and reciprocal respect for proactive and efficient interaction in emergencies.

Introduction: Media presence on site and reports on disasters are crucial parts of disaster communication. Aside from authorities, civil society, concerned businesses and citizens, the media constitute an important actor. The working conditions, situational competence and management among journalists on duty in a disaster area are important factors within the complex area of crisis management and disaster communication. This study aims to explore the working conditions, challenges, and coping strategies among journalists covering the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

Methods: Ten months after the event, Scandinavian journalists (n = 32) provided free-text responses about their work on site through a web survey. The free- text responses underwent content analysis. In addition, self-report questionnaires were used to assess general mental health and posttraumatic stress.

Results: We found that journalists faced five main challenges in Haiti: situational (technicalities, practical, collegial), professional (mission, approach, roles), personal (traits, emotions, coping), traumatic (general mental health and posttraumatic stress) and experiential (learning and growth). They described a difficult and challenging mission, but also an eye-opening and life-changing experience. Most respondents' questionnaire responses indicated low risk for both poor mental health and posttraumatic stress, with a few significant exceptions. Being properly equipped and mentally prepared, getting collegial support and maintaining professional focus were seen as important, and good leadership and clear instructions from editors at home were highlighted.

Discussion: Corroboration of the present findings would strengthen our knowledge of their experiences, and may provide valuable insights for designing preparedness activities in the future as well as for applying to other communication functions in disasters.

A critical part of disaster communication is media coverage in the interface of the afflicted, media, and authorities. One communication key is building trust. Disaster survivors encounter journalists in a high-stress context, but little is known about their perceptions of these interactions and the subsequent media exposure. The aim of this study is to explore how survivors 6 years after a major disaster perceived their encounters with journalists and exposure in the media, as well as their level of trust in the media, compared with government and authorities. Data were used from a longitudinal study of Swedish tourists, repatriated from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, surveyed up to 6 years after the tsunami to assess posttraumatic stress (PTS) and effects on mental health. At 6 years after, the survey included questions about survivors' perceptions of journalist interactions (reported by n = 311), of their own media exposure (n = 177), and survivors' trust in media organizations and public authorities (n = 1,181). Tsunami survivors mainly perceived interactions with journalists as being professional. There were 14% who reported that the interactions were supportive and 17% that the interactions were a strain. Similarly, most participants had a neutral view concerning the subsequent media coverage or exposure, although 12% experienced media exposure as stressful and 12% reported that it had been involuntary. Finally, the survivors indicated higher confidence and trust in Swedish radio and TV as compared to the Swedish authorities, and the participants' level of trust in the media was associated with their perceptions of journalists, r = 0.34, p < 0.001, and media coverage, r = 0.47, p < 0.001. Disaster survivors mainly agreed with emotionally neutral statements about interacting with the media, the performance of journalists on site, and their own media exposure. Nonetheless, a substantial minority found the encounters and exposure to be negative, and the results suggest a link between personal experiences or perceptions and trust in the media.

A great many communication problems can arise in the interaction between healthcare service and the media in major incidents and disasters. Many important experiences have been documented, but organisational learning can still be improved, since mistakes tend to be repeated. This is shown in the present review of documented experiences of interaction and communication in connection with major incidents and disasters in around 40 KAMEDO reports in the past 20 years. These reports represent a wide range of accidents and disasters, in Sweden and abroad.

Previous report is an English translation of a publication, published in Swedish 2018: “Sjukvård och medier i samspel vid allvarlig händelse. Erfarenheter från KAMEDO-rapporter under 20 år. Rapport nr 2018:1”. Major Incidents and Disasters are often associated with early, extensive and prolonged media reporting. It is important to understand the interaction between first responders/rescue services and the media to create better conditions for providing and making available correct and objective information to as many people as possible. For many years, insights and experiences from disasters have been collected through emergency medicine observations in KAMEDO reports. This compilation of observations of the interaction with the media in disasters displays patterns in the communication and indicates recurring deficiencies and strengths that can serve as a basis for future emergency planning.This report is primarily addressed to healthcare management and staff involved in planning and rescuing operations in disasters and to journalists and media agencies covering such events. Nevertheless, the content is relevant to other actors in disaster operations, for example, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, municipal emergency management, the police force, rescue services, and many others.

Allvarliga händelser är ofta förknippade med tidig, omfattande och långvarig medierapportering. Samspelet mellan samhällets kris- och katastrofhjälpare och mediernas personal är viktigt att förstå för att skapa bättre förutsättningar för att korrekt och saklig information ska kunna tillgängliggöras på ett bra sätt och till så många som möjligt. I många år har kunskap och erfarenheter från katastrofer samlats i katastrofmedicinska observationer, KAMEDO. Denna sammanställning av de observationer om samspelet med medier i katastrofinsatser som finns i rapporterna tydliggör mönster i samspelet och pekar på återkommande brister och styrkor som kan fungera som underlag för kris- och katastrofplanering framöver.

Rapporten riktar sig främst till ledning och personal inom hälso- och sjukvården som är delaktiga i planering eller utförande av insatser vid katastrofer och till journalister och mediehus som rapporterar från sådana händelser. Innehållet torde dock vara relevant för flera aktörer vid katastrofinsatser, exempelvis Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB), personal inom kommunernas krisberedskap, polis och räddningstjänst, med flera.Litteraturgenomgången i föreliggande rapport baseras på alla KAMEDO-rapporter utgivna under tjugoårsperioden 1993-2013 och rapporterna nummer 60-98. Dessa 40-talet rapporter representerar en stor bredd av olyckor och katastrofer, både på svensk och på internationell mark.

Purpose - The media is an important part of disaster management, yet little is understood about their interplay with the disaster survivors. The purpose of this paper is to examine disaster survivors' long-term retrospective views of their experiences with journalists and the media coverage.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 22 Swedish adult survivors (of 49 eligible) from a ferry disaster in the Baltic Sea, in which only 137 of the 989 people onboard survived, were interviewed after 15 years about their experiences of meeting journalists in the immediate aftermath and the media coverage in a long-term perspective. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings

Survivors from the Estonia ferry disaster described a wide array of experiences from their contacts with the disaster journalists and being exposed in the media. From their experiences, four categories were extracted. The categories were common for both their media contacts and their media exposure: strain, support, rationality and evasion. The survivors' experiences were both negative and positive.

Research limitations/implications

These accounts of disaster survivors' experiences from an event 15 years ago provide an interesting comparison for future studies of contemporary disasters.

Originality/value

This study provides important perspectives on the role of disaster coverage in the media and documents how disaster survivors retrospect on the media as both a burden and a resource.

Events such as the discotheque fire in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1998 and the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, in which many Swedish citizens’ lives were lost, exemplify events of traumatic character with implications for different professions in Sweden (Arnberg, Hultman, Michel, & Lundin, 2013; Wahlström, Michélsen, Schulman, Backheden, & Keskinen-Rosenqvist, 2013). Such events highlight the need for Swedish research on psychotraumatology to meet needs arising in connection with such traumas. Also events in Sweden's immediate vicinity, such as the terrorist attacks in Oslo and in Utøya in 2011, can be considered to have impact on Swedish society and its emergency preparedness. The Swedish Psychotrauma Society was formed in 2013. Its objectives are to increase and disseminate knowledge on psychotraumatology by creating a network of professionals and individuals who are active and/or interested in the subject, promote research and training in the field, and collaborate nationally and internationally on issues relating to psychotraumatology. The society is open to researchers, students, practitioners, and others alike with an interest in psychotraumatology, thereby encouraging multidisciplinary and holistic work and collaboration as well as being one of its kind in Sweden within this field. Not least, the society strives to be a link between research and practice. To this effect, the society organised its first scientific conference in May 2015, with a grant from The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Science. The conference aimed to offer internationally renowned psychotrauma researchers as keynote speakers (Litz, 2015; Newman & Drevo, 2015; Olff, Van Zuiden, & Bakker, 2015) and gather a nationwide audience consisting of professionals and researchers from various disciplines. By establishing a Swedish psychotrauma society and inspire and strengthen the field of psychotraumatology in Sweden, it is hoped that the Swedish Psychotrauma Society during the coming year can become affiliated to the ESTSS and commence collaborations with its European counterparts.