Collective Efficacy for Public Health in an Age of Climate Change: A Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract Climate change is a serious threat to environmental well-being and public health. Past research has highlighted collective efficacy as a key motivator of collective action to address such large-scale challenges, but little research focuses on collective efficacy at the intersection of environmental and health communication. Therefore, this chapter provides a review of collective efficacy research within the separate realms of environmental and health communication, including effects of interventions on efficacy perceptions and effects of efficacy perceptions on behavioral outcomes. Building on this review, we highlight notable similarities and differences in these bodies of work and discuss the small body of developing research examining collective efficacy at the overlap of environmental and health threats. Finally, we offer recommendations for promising future research areas, such as more systematic examinations of the relationship between collective efficacy and related constructs as well as message design for collective efficacy.