Persuasive Effects of Temporal Framing in Health Messaging: A Meta-Analysis.

This meta-analysis investigated the persuasive effects of temporal framing in health messaging. Our analysis included 39 message pairs from 22 studies in 20 articles (N = 4,998) that examined the effects of temporal framing (i.e. present-oriented messages vs. future-oriented messages) on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors in health contexts. We found that present-oriented messages were significantly more persuasive than future-oriented messages in terms of intentions and integrated persuasive outcomes. Effects of temporal framing on attitudes and behaviors were not statistically significant. We tested six moderators of temporal framing effects (gain vs. loss framing, temporal framing operationalization, behavior type, timing of effect assessment, age, CFC levels) but none of them was statistically significant. Implications for future temporal framing research are discussed.

Beliefs in COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation Among Unvaccinated Black Americans: Prevalence, Socio-Psychological Predictors, and Consequences.

Health-related misinformation is a major threat to public health and particularly worrisome for populations experiencing health disparities. This study sets out to examine the prevalence, socio-psychological predictors, and consequences of beliefs in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation among unvaccinated Black Americans. We conducted an online national survey with Black Americans who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 (N = 800) between February and March 2021. Results showed that beliefs in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation were prevalent among unvaccinated Black Americans with 13-19% of participants agreeing or strongly agreeing with various false claims about COVID-19 vaccines and 35-55% unsure about the veracity of these claims. Conservative ideology, conspiracy thinking mind-set, religiosity, and racial consciousness in health care settings predicted greater beliefs in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, which were associated with lower vaccine confidence and acceptance. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

A Scoping Review of Emerging COVID-19 Health Communication Research in Communication and Media Journals.

This article reports a scoping review of emerging research on COVID-19 health communication. We reviewed and analyzed 206 articles published in 40 peer-reviewed communication journals between January 2020 to April 2021. Our review identified key study characteristics and overall themes and trends in this rapidly expanding field of research. Our review of health communication scholarship during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that health communication scholars have risen to the challenges and interrogated important issues in COVID-19 communication at the individual, group, organizational, and societal levels. We identified important gaps that warrant future research attention including experimental research that seeks to test the causal effects of communication, studies that evaluate communication interventions in under-served populations, research on mental health challenges imposed by the pandemic, and investigations on the promise of emerging communication technologies for supporting pandemic mitigation efforts.

Motivating COVID-19 Vaccination through Persuasive Communication: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Vaccination is a vital defense against COVID-19 infections and outbreaks, yet vaccine hesitancy poses a significant threat to pandemic response and recovery. We conducted a systematic review of published randomized controlled trials (N = 47) assessing the persuasive effects of COVID-19 communication on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Individual vs. collective appeals and gain vs. loss frames are among the most frequently assessed message features, but they generally do not make a difference in persuasion. Normative messages that highlight higher (vs. lower) prevalence of vaccine acceptance are more persuasive. Message sources overall have limited impact on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, but sources that have a shared identity with the message receivers tend to be persuasive. More engaging message channels such as interactive chatbots and videos are promising communication tools but are generally under-utilized and under-studied. Compared to no communication or irrelevant communication, COVID-19 vaccine messages generally have a small advantage in increasing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Messages that include 1) vaccine safety and/or efficacy information; 2) collective appeals combined with embarrassment appeals; and 3) political leaders' vaccine endorsement are among the most effective messaging strategies. There is no evidence of any backfire effects of COVID-19 vaccine messages. We discuss the implications of our findings for persuasive message design in pandemic vaccine communication.

Public Perceptions of Food Contamination Risks: A Simulation Experiment on the Psychological Impact of Incident Severity and Intentionality.

How do consumers perceive risks associated with food contamination? How do they respond to foodborne illness outbreaks and food recalls resulting from food contamination? We report findings from an experiment (N = 1,010) in which participants were exposed to a simulated news report on a food contamination incident that had led to a foodborne illness outbreak and voluntary food recalls. Two characteristics of the food contamination incident were experimentally manipulated - severity (i.e., how serious the consequences of the incident were) and intentionality (i.e., whether the incident was caused by an accident or an intentional act to harm). We found that higher severity generally led to higher risk perceptions and risk-reduction intentions. A contamination incident attributed to an intentional act to harm, as opposed to an accident, caused greater intentions to temporarily reduce consumption of the contaminated food and to seek out more information, but only when incident severity was relatively low. Implications of these findings for effectively communicating food contamination risks are discussed.

Moral Foundations Predict COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Evidence from a National Survey of Black Americans.

In this study we examine the role of moral values in predicting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans. Guided by moral foundations theory, we assess the associations between six moral foundations (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, purity, liberty) and attitudes and intentions toward COVID-19 vaccination. Results of a national survey of Black Americans (N = 1,497) indicate that the care and loyalty moral foundations consistently predicted less vaccine hesitancy with overall more favorable attitudes and intentions toward COVID-19 vaccination, whereas the purity and liberty moral foundations were consistently associated with greater vaccine hesitancy. Relationships between the foundations and vaccine hesitancy were mediated by perceived vaccine effectiveness and safety. Implications of the findings for COVID-19 vaccine communication are discussed.

Impact of Self-Affirmation on Responses to Health Warning Messages: Does Consideration of Future Consequences Matter?

Self-affirmation theory has inspired numerous studies that have tried to understand the effects of self-affirmation on defensive processing of threatening health messages and subsequent behavior. Despite the overall positive effects of self-affirmation, psychological processes through which self-affirmation exerts such impact remain unclear. We examined Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) as a potential moderator of the effects of self-affirmation on responses to graphic cigarette warning warnings, in an attempt to shed light on the psychological processes. We conducted an experimental study in which 925 African American smokers were instructed to self-affirm (or not) prior to viewing graphic cigarette warning labels. We found that smokers with stronger present time orientation (PTO) experienced higher defensive responses as measured by anger, perceived message manipulation, and message derogation, after viewing graphic cigarette warning labels; whereas smokers with stronger future time orientation (FTO) reported less message derogation. PTO interacted with self-affirmation in predicting defensive processing measures, such that self-affirmation reduced message derogation at lower levels of PTO and increased message derogation and perceived message manipulation at higher levels of PTO. Self-affirmation also had a conditional indirect effect on smoking intentions and intention to quit smoking through measures of defensive processing. We discuss implications of our study.

Public Health Messaging during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Lessons from Communication Science.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that effective public health messaging is an indispensable component of a robust pandemic response system. In this article, we review decades of research from the interdisciplinary field of communication science and provide evidence-based recommendations for COVID-19 public health messaging. We take a principled approach by systematically examining the communication process, focusing on decisions about what to say in a message (i.e., message content) and how to say it (i.e., message executions), and how these decisions impact message persuasiveness. Following a synthesis of each major line of literature, we discuss how science-based principles of message design can be used in COVID-19 public health messaging. Additionally, we identify emerging challenges for public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss possible remedies. We conclude that communication science offers promising public health messaging strategies for combatting COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Acceptability and Campaign Message Preferences Among African American Parents: a Qualitative Study.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination can prevent numerous cancers, yet uptake remains low for adolescents. Given disproportionate burden of cancers among African Americans, it is important to identify factors that influence HPV vaccination decisions among African American parents, specifically the role and preferences of vaccine campaign messages. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify the predictors of parents' decisions to get their children vaccinated against HPV, (2) assess parents' evaluation of current HPV vaccination campaign messages, and (3) uncover message strategies or themes parents consider to be effective and motivating to vaccinate their children against HPV. Focus groups were conducted with African American mothers and fathers (n = 18) in person. Several themes emerged regarding HPV vaccine acceptability including the desire to be informed, the unfamiliarity of vaccination, and mistrust toward government, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare providers. Parental review of existing campaign messages highlighted the importance of clarifying risks and benefits of vaccination, including cancer prevention, and the preference for straightforward language. When brainstorming strategies to craft effective messages, parents highlighted need for the inclusion of diverse groups across race, gender, and age. Additionally, parents recommended clear language on side effects, eligibility, and additional resources for further information. Our findings highlight concerns and potential strategies to promote HPV vaccination tailored to African American parents and their children. Targeted interventions to increase vaccination need to consider the importance of building trust and representation in health promotional materials. Considerations for how messages were shared were also discussed such as physical locations, word of mouth, and social media.

African American Parents' Perceived Vaccine Efficacy Moderates the Effect of Message Framing on Psychological Reactance to HPV Vaccine Advocacy.

This experiment assessed how the frame of promotional vaccine messages elicited psychological reactance differently for African American parents according to their level of perceived vaccine efficacy. We found that those with low perceived HPV vaccine efficacy experienced more psychological reactance in response to loss-framed messages compared to gain-framed messages, whereas message framing made little difference for those with high perceived HPV vaccine efficacy. In addition, the interaction between frame and perceived HPV vaccine efficacy indirectly affected parents' intentions to vaccinate their child for HPV via reactance. These results support current theorizing about framing effects under defensive message processing specifically as it applies to psychological reactance.

HPV Vaccine Searches on Pinterest: Before and After Pinterest's Actions to Moderate Content.

Objectives. To compare how human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was portrayed on Pinterest before and after the platform acted to moderate vaccine-related search results to understand (1) what the information environment looked like previously and (2) whether Pinterest's policy decisions improved this environment in terms of sources and content.Methods. In this quantitative content analysis, we compared 2 samples of 500 HPV vaccine-focused Pinterest posts ("pins") collected before and after Pinterest's actions to provide more reliable vaccine-related information. Pins were based on search results and were analyzed using the Health Belief Model.Results. The majority of preaction search results leaned toward vaccine skepticism, specifically focused on perceived vaccine barriers. Few pins were published by public health-related Pinterest accounts. Postaction search results showed a significant shift to HPV vaccination benefits, and the number of pins by government or medical accounts increased. However, the proportion of pins in search results containing HPV content of any type was significantly lower.Conclusions. Pinterest's efforts to moderate vaccination discussions were largely successful. However, the ban also appeared to limit HPV vaccination search results overall, which may contribute to confusion or an information vacuum.

Influence of Risk Severity and Intentionality on Perceptions of Food Contamination Risks among Pregnant Women: An Experimental Investigation.

Given the potential for severe health consequences of consuming contaminated foods during pregnancy, effective communication of food contamination risks to pregnant women is especially important. This study examines pregnant women's risk perceptions and intentions to adopt risk-reduction behaviors following exposure to a simulated news story about a food contamination incident. The news story was experimentally manipulated to depict the severity of the incident as high or low and the cause of the incident as accidental or intentional. Results showed that both severity and intentionality of the incident elevated pregnant women's perceptions of getting sick as well as their intentions to temporarily reduce consumption of the contaminated food product and to seek more information. Implications of these findings for effectively communicating food contamination risks to pregnant women are discussed.

Self-Affirmation Moderates Self-Congruency Effect in Health Messaging.

Previous research found that health risk messages framed to be congruent with people's independent or interdependent self-construal were not consistently more effective than incongruent messages. We argue that people potentially process the self-construal congruent health risk messages in a biased manner. To test this proposition, we examined the role of self-affirmation, which is expected to reduce defensive processing, in college nonsmokers' responses to an antismoking message congruent vs. incongruent with their dominant self-construals. Results from an online experiment suggested that self-affirmation moderated the self-congruency effect. Specifically, among college nonsmokers endorsing a dominant interdependent self-construal, self-congruency effect emerged only when the group was engaged in self-affirmation. Among college nonsmokers endorsing a dominant independent self-construal, with no prior affirmation, the group reported self-incongruent messages better than the self-congruent messages. After being engaged in self-affirmation, the group reported similar effects for self-congruent and self-incongruent messages. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Soda or VitaSoda: How Product Name Influences Perceptions of Snack Food Healthfulness and the Moderating Role of Nutrition Facts Labels.

Many parts of a food package label can influence consumers' product judgments. In this study we investigate how strategic product naming influences consumers' perceptions of snack food products' healthfulness and nutritional content by focusing on snack food names that include (versus do not include) the noun "vita." We also analyze how the effects of product naming are moderated by viewing the Nutrition Facts labels (NFLs). In an online experiment, participants (N = 3,049) were presented with mock packages of snack foods and given the opportunity to view the NFL. Results showed that products including "vita" in their name were perceived as more healthful than those that did not include "vita" in their name, even though their nutritional content was the same. Additionally, vita snack foods (compared to regular snack foods) were rated as significantly higher in nutrients to promote, such as fiber, vitamin D, calcium, vitamin C, and potassium and lower in nutrients to limit, such as calories, sugar, and saturated fat. Viewing the NFL appeared to mitigate the effects of product naming.

Investigating the Interplay of Self-Construal and Independent Vs. Interdependent Self-Affirmation.

This study examines how the relative effects of independent and interdependent self-affirmation might be influenced by individuals' self-construal. A controlled experiment involving 186 Chinese adult smokers revealed a significant interactive effect of self-affirmation type and self-construal on message derogation and posttest attitudes toward smoking. For individuals with a dominant independent self-construal, independent self-affirmation (i.e., affirming the most important value to the self) led to less message derogation and more negative attitudes toward smoking than interdependent self-affirmation (i.e., affirming the most important value to the self and the family). In contrast, for individuals with a dominant interdependent self-construal, interdependent self-affirmation resulted in less message derogation and more negative attitudes toward smoking than independent self-affirmation. In addition, the interaction between self-affirmation type and self-construal had an indirect effect on perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases through message derogation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Influence of Norm-Based Messages on College Students' Binge Drinking Intentions: Considering Norm Type, Regulatory Mode, and Level of Alcohol Consumption.

This study examined the influence of norm-based messages on U.S. college students' binge drinking intentions, focusing on norm type, locomotion and assessment regulatory modes, and level of alcohol consumption as possible moderators. Results of an online experiment (N = 519) revealed significant three-way interactions among regulatory mode (assessment/locomotion), level of alcohol consumption, and norm type (i.e., descriptive vs. injunctive norms) on binge drinking intentions. The relative persuasiveness of descriptive vs. injunctive norm-based messages was contingent upon an individual's locomotion/assessment regulatory mode and overall alcohol consumption level. Findings from this study extend research on social norms and regulatory mode and provide useful suggestions for the norm-based college drinking intervention.

Positive Facts, Negative Stories: Message Framing as a Moderator of Narrative Persuasion in Antismoking Communication.

This study examines the moderating role of message framing in narrative persuasion in the context of promoting smoking cessation. A controlled experiment involving 101 college smokers revealed a significant interaction effect between message framing (gain-framing vs. loss-framing) and evidence type (narrative vs. nonnarrative) on smoking-related risk perceptions. For the gain-framed message, the nonnarrative version produced significantly greater perceived susceptibility to smoking-related diseases than did the narrative version. For the loss-framed message, evidence type did not make a difference in perceived susceptibility. On perceived severity of smoking-related diseases, the interaction was such that for the loss-framed message, the narrative version resulted in significantly greater perceived severity than did the nonnarrative version. In contrast, for the gain-framed message, evidence type did not make a difference in perceived severity. In addition, our results revealed that the interaction between message framing and evidence type had an indirect effect on attitudes toward quitting smoking through perceived severity of smoking-related diseases. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Parental Support for HPV Vaccination Mandates Among African Americans: The Impact of Message Framing and Consideration of Future Consequences.

Is parents' support for mandating human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for their adolescent children influenced by how the policy advocacy message is framed? In this research, we conducted an experiment in which a group of African-American parents were exposed to messages advocating HPV vaccination mandates that were framed in either gains or losses. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the personality trait - consideration of future consequences - when assessing the efficacy of gain- and loss-framed health advocacy. We found that parents responded more positively to gain-frames if they focused on the distant future and to loss-frames if they focused on the immediate future. Thus, it is important to recognize that public support of HPV vaccination policy is not only contingent on the message-based educational strategy employed to parent, but on the degree to which parents consider how present behaviors influence future well-being.

Friends Don't Let Friends Smoke: How Storytelling and Social Distance Influence Nonsmokers' Responses to Antismoking Messages.

This study examines nonsmokers' responses to antismoking messages. Informed by construal-level theory (CLT), it investigates whether and how evidence type (narrative vs. non-narrative) and social distance might interact to influence nonsmokers' attitudes toward others' quitting smoking and intentions to persuade others to quit smoking. Results of a controlled experiment (N = 281) revealed an approximately significant two-way interaction pertaining to attitudes. Simple effects analyses revealed that narratives produced less-favorable attitudes toward others' quitting smoking than nonnarratives when participants thought about their best friend. Yet, there was no difference in attitudes between narratives and nonnarratives when participants thought about socially distant others. The results also indicated that nonnarratives overpowered narratives to influence participants' attitudes toward others' quitting smoking. Moreover, social distance had a consistent impact on their risk beliefs, such that they perceive fewer health risks of their close friends than an average college student. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Nutrient Content Claims: How They Impact Perceived Healthfulness of Fortified Snack Foods and the Moderating Effects of Nutrition Facts Labels.

Nutrient content claims (NCCs) may inflate perceived healthfulness of nutritionally poor foods. The aim of this study is to experimentally test the effects of NCCs on consumers' perceptions of fortified snack foods in terms of the presence of both healthful and less healthful nutrients, as well as their intentions to consume such products. It also explores the potential moderating effects of reading Nutrition Facts Labels (NFL) on the influence of NCCs. Data for this study were collected through a web-based experiment (N = 5,076). Results indicated that the presence of an NCC on a fortified snack food product increased perceived healthfulness of that product, perceptions of the presence of healthful nutrients, and intentions to consume the product. The presence of NCCs also decreased perceptions of the presence of certain less healthful nutrients. Reading the NFL had mixed effects on the impact of NCCs.