{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T18:12:17Z","timestamp":1790791937698,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,18]],"date-time":"2025-11-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763424000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000024","name":"Canadian Institutes of Health Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FRN 177783"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FRN 177783"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000024","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100011094","name":"Public Health Agency of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["CITF Project: 2122-HQ-00006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CITF Project: 2122-HQ-00006"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100011094","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Effective communication during a public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, has been identified by the World Health Organization as a challenge; it is also critical to ensuring more positive public health outcomes. As such, given the already limited health resources available in remote communities, this project aimed to explore communication access, sources of COVID-19 information, and language preference among Indigenous communities in Northwest Territories, Canada.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Data collection occurred between April-November 2021 in ten Northwest Territories communities. Utilizing convenience sampling methods due to public health restrictions, self-identifying Indigenous adults (\u226518 years) were invited to complete a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire. During interviews, relevant public health measures were upheld (i.e., wearing masks and maintaining distance). Open-ended questions regarding communication access, sources of COVID-19 information, and language preference were asked.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Participants (n\u2009=\u2009287; 31.1% male; mean age 41.6 years, SD\u2009=\u200913.5) reported accessing three main forms of communication: radio (84.7%), the internet (80.5%), and cable television (71.8%). Some participants (19.5%) reported having no internet access at home. Participants\u2019 main sources of COVID-19 information were websites (35.3%), social media (26.5%), and the news delivered via television or newspaper (48.4%). Only 11.0% of participants acquired information from healthcare workers. Some participants (9.9%) preferred to receive information in the traditional languages of the Dene (Dene Ked\u2019e, T\u0142\u0131ch\u01eb) and Anishinaabe.<\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:p>Ensuring communication access by providing adequate internet access in all communities and producing information sources in preferred languages should be a priority. These results can inform future public health policy for Northwest Territories.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0330394","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,18]],"date-time":"2025-11-18T18:27:45Z","timestamp":1763490465000},"page":"e0330394","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Communication access, public health information sources, and language preference during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indigenous communities in Northwest Territories, Canada"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Rachel","family":"Harris","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fariba","family":"Kolahdooz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Afsaneh","family":"Omidimorad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adrian","family":"Wagg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Debbie","family":"DeLancey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kami","family":"Kandola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sami","family":"Pirkola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephanie","family":"Irlbacher-Fox","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andr\u00e9","family":"Corriveau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4995-0010","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sangita","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0330394.ref001","first-page":"49","article-title":"Report of the review committee on the functioning of the international health regulations (2005) in relation to pandemic (H1N1) 2009","volume-title":"In Sixty-Fourth World Health Assembly","author":"WHO","year":"2011"},{"key":"pone.0330394.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.publhealth.28.021406.144123","article-title":"Risk communication for public health emergencies","volume":"28","author":"DC Glik","year":"2007","journal-title":"Annu Rev Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0330394.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.janxdis.2020.102248","article-title":"Media use and acute psychological outcomes during COVID-19 outbreak in China","volume":"74","author":"M Chao","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Anxiety Disord"},{"issue":"7911","key":"pone.0330394.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-022-01385-9","article-title":"COVID lessons from Japan: the right messaging empowers citizens","volume":"605","author":"H Oshitani","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"pone.0330394.ref005","unstructured":"Statistics Canada. 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