Rethinking Crisis Communication in Public Health: Insights from Social Work and Social Marketing

Public health crises intensify existing social inequalities and challenge conventional models of crisis communication. This study examines how social work, social marketing, and crisis communication are conceptually integrated in the public health literature to support equity-oriented and behavior-sensitive interventions during emergencies. Using a semi-systematic (narrative) qualitative review, the study synthesizes interdisciplinary scholarship published between 2014 and 2024, focusing on recurring challenges, adaptive strategies, and integrative mechanisms across these domains. The findings indicate that social workers play a central mediating role by addressing psychosocial vulnerabilities, advocating for marginalized populations, and translating institutional guidance into context-sensitive practice. Social marketing principles - particularly audience segmentation, message framing, and value exchange - are positioned as tools that enhance engagement and voluntary behavior change, but also introduce ethical tensions related to self-determination, conditionality, and power asymmetries. Digital communication platforms expand reach and trust-building capacity, yet simultaneously risk reinforcing exclusion through digital divides and misinformation. By synthesizing these patterns, the study highlights how interdisciplinary integration can strengthen crisis communication when guided by social work ethics and equity considerations. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 3, 10, and 17, the analysis contributes an analytically grounded perspective on inclusive and ethically informed crisis communication and identifies priorities for future empirical research in diverse and resource-constrained public health contexts.