Theorizing Foreshadowed Death Narratives: Examining the Impact of Character Death on Narrative Processing and Skin Self-Exam Intentions.

Narratives are common in health campaigns and interventions, with many depicting individuals battling a particular illness or disease. Past research has focused primarily on the form and effects of survivor stories, but considerably less attention has been devoted to stories in which 1 or more of the central characters passes away. The goal of the current study was to compare the relative persuasive impact of survivor and death narratives in influencing skin prevention behaviors and to test narrative mediators that might explicate underlying mechanisms of effect. To that end, adults (N = 635, M age = 32.43 [SD = 11.23]) were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 narrative intervention conditions in an online message experiment. Participants read 1 of 2 stories about a person with melanoma (Rusty or Diane) that was manipulated as a narrative depicting the survival, death, or foreshadowed death of the main character. Foreshadowed death narratives increased intentions to perform a skin self-exam (SSE), a relationship that was mediated by narrative transportation and perceived SSE benefits. The results support the central postulate of narrative transportation theory and the utility of using foreshadowed death narratives in communication-based interventions designed to increase SSE frequency.

Theorizing the Impact of Targeted Narratives: Model Admiration and Narrative Memorability.

Communication campaigns often include components that have been designed for a specific population, a strategy referred to as targeting. Targeted narratives are story-based components of a campaign that feature a character or situation relevant to the intended audience. Though commonplace, few studies have explicated the underlying mechanisms by which targeted narratives exert influence. In a message evaluation study, 316 women aged 40-75 (Mage = 51.19, SD = 8.11) were exposed to one of two targeted narratives and asked to complete measures of model admiration, narrative memorability, and intentions to receive a mammography. Targeting was based upon affiliation with the Mormon church. The results revealed that the relationship between the targeted narratives and screening intentions was especially strong for women from the target population who admired the depicted models and found the stories memorable.

Death narratives and cervical cancer: Impact of character death on narrative processing and HPV vaccination.

OBJECTIVES: Narratives hold promise as an effective public health message strategy for health behavior change, yet research on what types of narratives are most persuasive is still in the formative stage. Narrative persuasion research has identified 2 promising features of such messages that could influence behavior: whether characters live or die, and whether characters encounter key barriers. This study investigated the effects of these 2 narrative message features on young women's HPV vaccination intentions and examined mediating psychological processes of narrative persuasion in the context of cervical cancer messages. METHOD: We manipulated these 2 features in a narrative HPV vaccine intervention targeted to a national sample of U.S. women 18-26 who had not initiated the vaccine (N = 247). Participants were randomized in a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment. RESULTS: Compared to death narratives, survival narratives increased narrative believability and self-efficacy while lowering perceived barriers to vaccination. As features interacted, survival narratives featuring social barriers led to greater narrative transportation (absorption into the story) than other combinations. Moderated mediation analysis tested 10 theoretically derived mediators; transportation and risk severity mediated the narrative-intention relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence for key psychological postulates of narrative persuasion theory. Results inform practical application for the construction of effective narrative message content in cervical cancer prevention campaigns for young women. (PsycINFO Database Record

Recommendations for overcoming barriers to medication therapy management implementation, part 1: review of literature.

As a required service of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, medication therapy management services must be offered by all Part D prescription drug plan sponsors in order to improve overall knowledge of medication usage for targeted patients. Those targeted patients include patients who have multiple chronic diseases, have been prescribed several covered Part D medications, and are paying at least $4,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for their medication each year. This article serves as a literature review of medication therapy management services and serves as an introduction to a study conducted by the authors concerning some of the barriers and recommendations to overcome such barriers encountered by Indiana pharmacists.

Medication therapy management implementation, part 2: study methodologies, barriers, and recommendations to overcome barriers.

As a required service of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, medication therapy management services must be offered by all Part D prescription drug-plan sponsors in order to improve overall knowledge of medication usage for targeted patients. Those targeted patients include patients who have multiple chronic diseases, have been prescribed several covered Part D medications, and are paying at least $4,000 in medication each year. This article presents the methodolgy used by authors to conduct a study of Indiana pharmacists to determine pharmacists' attitudes and practices surrounding medication therapy management services. This article also discusses some of the barriers and recommendations to overcome such barriers encountered by Indiana pharmacists.

Medication therapy management implementation, part 3: barriers and recommendations to overcome barriers.

As a required service of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, medication therapy management services must be offered by all Part D prescription drug-plan sponsors in order to improve overall knowledge of medication usage for targeted patients. Those targeted patients include patients who have multiple chronic diseases, have been prescribed several covered Part D medications, and are paying at least $4,000 for their medication each year. This article discusses some of the barriers and recommendations to overcome such barriers encountered by Indiana pharmacists.