How Does Physician (Non)accommodation Affect Patient Behavioral Intention? Using a Web-Based Experiment to Examine Indirect Effects of Language Type on Behavioral Intention Through Goal Inferences and Source Appraisals.

Drawing on communication accommodation theory (CAT), we investigated how physician (non)accommodation indirectly affects participants' intention to engage in advocated health behaviors through participant goal inferences and source appraisals. We conducted a 3 (language type: medical jargon, analogies, literal language) × 2 (health topic: coronary artery disease, influenza vaccine) web-based experiment. Participants recruited from an online research panel (N = 545) were randomly assigned to a condition and watched a video featuring a physician explaining medical information and providing health recommendations. In a serial mediation analysis, results suggested two parallel indirect effects (relational vs. informational). Relative to underaccommodation (i.e. medical jargon), physician accommodation (i.e. literal language, analogies) had positive, indirect effects on participant health behavioral intention through goal inferences and assessment of physicians (i.e. warmth, expertise). Compared to the use of literal language, physician use of analogies had a positive, indirect effect on participant behavioral intention solely through the relational path, not the informational path. These findings extend CAT by explicating a mechanism underlying physician (non)accommodation and patient outcomes, offering practical implications for physicians to foster relationships with patients and facilitate patient comprehension.

Information Seeking and Risk Reduction Intentions in Response to Environmental Threat Messages: The Role of Message Processing.

Communicating complex information about environmental health risks in a single message is impossible. Thus, message designers hope that risk messages encourage people to think more about the message and risks, look for more information, and ultimately make behavior changes. The presentation of information about environmental risks using threat appeals is a common message design strategy thought to increase message engagement and influence attitudes, information seeking, and risk reduction behaviors. We compared lower threat messages, which did not include explicit statements about susceptibility and severity of a risk, to higher threat messages, which did. We combined predictions from the extended parallel process model with dual-process theories of persuasion to examine whether people respond to these types of messages differently. In an online experiment, participants (N = 892) were randomly assigned to a message condition (higher or lower threat) and topic condition (arsenic, bisphenol A, or volatile organic compounds). Overall, participants exposed to higher threat messages (regardless of risk topic) reported experiencing higher levels of fear. Higher levels of fear were associated with more positive thoughts about the message (in alignment with the message advocacy) and fewer negative thoughts about the message (against the message advocacy), both of which influenced message attitudes. Finally, message attitudes were associated with increased information seeking and intentions to engage in risk reduction behaviors.

Information Seeking Behaviors and Intentions in Response to Environmental Health Risk Messages: A Test of A Reduced Risk Information Seeking Model.

This study tests the effects of environmental health risk messages on perceived risk, information needs and decisions to seek information, testing a reduced risk information seeking and processing model (R-RISP). Participants (N = 1,823) were randomized to one of three risk conditions (arsenic, bisphenol A [BPA] or volatile organic compounds [VOCs]) and one of the three message conditions (high threat, low threat or no message); participants in the high and low threat message conditions were also randomly assigned to a seeking cue to action condition (with or without seeking cue). Overall, the results support the R-RISP model, demonstrating the importance of current knowledge perceptions and informational subjective norms in information acquisition decisions. In addition, the results also provide initial evidence that environmental health risk messages can prompt information seeking and increase intentions to seek information in the future. Avenues for future research are discussed.