Measuring the impact of message format about handwashing on behavioural intentions in the first weeks of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented threat to global health. During times of public health crises, governments and healthcare practitioners must effectively communicate preventive guidelines to the public to reduce viral transmission. Public compliance with recommended health behaviours is essential to the success of the overall pandemic response. This online experiment investigated the persuasiveness of visual message format on COVID-19 handwashing guidelines on people's behavioural intentions. A total of 350 participants, recruited through Amazon's MTurk, were randomly assigned to one of three information format conditions: text, infographic, or video. Results indicated that perceived severity, benefits, self-efficacy, cues to action, and perceived barriers significantly predicted people's intentions to comply with suggested preventive guidelines. There were no significant differences between the three information formats, in terms of behavioural intentions. These results have consequences for identifying and implementing public health strategies for a global health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve higher citizen engagement, and for understanding future emerging infectious disease preparedness.

Exploring message framing to engage parents in early screening for autism spectrum disorder.

OBJECTIVE: With the average age of diagnosis of autism hovering between 4 and 5 years of age, many children do not receive critical early intervention. Health information messages may be useful for increasing parents' understanding of the importance of early autism screening. METHODS: Messages promoting autism screening were presented to 282 parents in a 2 (message frame: gain, loss) x 3 (evidence type: narrative, statistical, and hybrid), online, between-participants factorial design. Participants' involvement, affective responses, perceived threat to behavioral freedom, attitudes, and intentions to discuss screening with a healthcare provider were analyzed. RESULTS: Loss-framed messages that included a hybrid of first-person narrative and statistical evidence were related to favorable ratings for most outcomes. Levels of perceived threat to behavioral freedom partially mediated involvement and attitudes, in a negative direction, for loss-framed narrative messages. CONCLUSION: Results of this preliminary study supported the inclusion of both evidence types in messages developed to encourage parents to engage in early screening for autism, and partially supported focusing these messages on the potential costs of not screening. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Effective use of messaging with parents could help to increase knowledge and facilitate shared decision-making with health care providers to engage in early screening for autism.

A model of tailoring effects: A randomized controlled trial examining the mechanisms of tailoring in a web-based STD screening intervention.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the mechanisms of tailoring within the context of RU@Risk a brief Web-based intervention designed to promote sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing among young adults. This is one of a few studies to empirically examine theorized message processing mechanisms of tailoring and persuasion outcomes in a single model. METHOD: Sexually active college students (N = 1065) completed a pretest, were randomly assigned to explore a tailored or nontailored website, completed a posttest, and were offered the opportunity to order a free at-home STD test kit. As intervention effects were hypothesized to work via increases in perceived risk, change in perceived risk from pretest to posttest by condition was examined. Hypothesized mechanisms of tailoring (perceived personal relevance, attention, and elaboration) were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). All analyses controlled for demographic variables and sexual history. RESULTS: As predicted, perceived risk of STDs increased from pretest to posttest, but only in the tailored condition. Results revealed that exposure to the tailored (vs. nontailored) website increased perceived personal relevance, attention to, and elaboration of the message. These effects in turn were associated with greater perceived risk of STDs and intentions to get tested. Additionally, participants in the tailored condition were more likely to order a test kit. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide insight into the mechanisms of tailoring with important implications for optimizing message design. (PsycINFO Database Record

A meta-analysis of web-delivered tailored health behavior change interventions.

Web-based tailored intervention programs show considerable promise in effecting health-promoting behaviors and improving health outcomes across a variety of medical conditions and patient populations. This meta-analysis compares the effects of tailored versus nontailored web-based interventions on health behaviors and explores the influence of key moderators on treatment outcomes. Forty experimental and quasi-experimental studies (N =20,180) met criteria for inclusion and were analyzed using meta-analytic procedures. The findings indicated that web-based tailored interventions effected significantly greater improvement in health outcomes as compared with control conditions both at posttesting, d =.139 (95% CI = .111, .166, p <.001, k =40) and at follow-up, d =.158 (95% CI = .124, .192, p <.001, k =21). The authors found no evidence of publication bias. These results provided further support for the differential benefits of tailored web-based interventions over nontailored approaches. Analysis of participant/descriptive, intervention, and methodological moderators shed some light on factors that may be important to the success of tailored interventions. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Looking back as we prepare to move forward: US presidential candidates' adoption of YouTube.

As the United States prepares for the 2012 Presidential Election, we reflect on how the 2008 candidates and the voting public adopted social computing technology with specific focus on YouTube. Using the Social Influence Model as a framework, this article sought to examine how candidates adopted YouTube to determine what types of messages were disseminated via YouTube and what kind of response from viewers videos received. We conducted a content analysis of candidate YouTube sites, focusing on video characteristics and content. Findings indicate that the candidates did not use YouTube to its fullest extent and that there were significant differences between the candidates in terms of the types of videos posted and the content posted and that constituents did adopt the medium as demonstrated in viewership numbers and responses.

Computer-tailored health interventions delivered over the Web: review and analysis of key components.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review explores how computer-tailored, behavioral interventions implemented and delivered via the Web have been operationalized in a variety of settings. METHODS: Computer-tailored, online behavioral intervention studies published from 1996 to early 2007 were selected and reviewed by two independent coders. RESULTS: Of 503 studies screened, 30 satisfied the selection criteria. The level of sophistication of these interventions varied from immediate risk/health assessment, tailored web content to full-blown customized health programs. The most common variables for tailoring content were health behaviors and stages of change. Message tailoring was achieved through a combination mechanisms including: feedback, personalization and adaptation. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored, self-guided health interventions delivered via the Web to date have involved a great diversity of features and formats. While some programs have been relatively brief and simple, others have involved complex, theory-based tailoring with iterative assessment, tools for development of self-regulatory skills, and various mechanisms for providing feedback. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Our ability to fully optimize the use of computer-assisted tailoring will depend on the development of empirically based guidelines for tailoring across populations, health foci, health behaviors and situations. Further outcome research is needed to enhance our understanding of how and under what conditions computer-tailoring leads to positive health outcomes in online behavioral interventions.