Source Interactivity Enhances Sense of Community and Reduces Psychological Reactance: Effects of the Like Button on Smoking Message Evaluations and Attitudes.

This study investigates the psychological mechanism by which source interactivity influences health message evaluations. Combining health communication and interactivity literature, two theoretical routes to persuasion were proposed: enhanced sense of community and reduced psychological reactance. A 2 × 2 (source interactivity: absence vs. presence X smoking status: nonsmoker vs. current smoker) factorial-design experiment (N = 343) was conducted on an anti-smoking website. Result revealed that the endorsing and sharing features that resembled the Like button on Facebook enhanced self-as-source perceptions and sense of community, which exerted significant effects on message credibility for smokers and message enjoyment for nonsmokers. Among smokers, self-as-source perceptions reduced psychological reactance, which promoted greater message credibility and more negative attitudes toward smoking behavior.

Can Liking, Commenting, and Sharing Enhance Persuasion? The Interaction Effect between Modality Interactivity and Agency Affordances on Smokers' Quitting Intentions.

This article examines whether the persuasive potential of modality interactivity on anti-smoking websites can be harnessed by adding agency affordances, such as the like, comment, and share features. Using a 2 × 2 factorial experiment with a current smoker sample (N = 154), we investigated the interaction effects between modality interactivity (low vs. high) and agency affordances (absence vs. presence) on persuasion outcomes. The results showed that the effects of modality interactivity on telepresence, systematic processing, and change in quitting intentions varied depending on the existence of agency affordances on the website. Agency affordances on the anti-smoking website led to a greater sense of agency and systematic processing on the website content. Only in the presence of agency affordances did modality interactivity enhance the feeling of telepresence, which led to greater quitting intentions than in the control condition. Without agency affordances, modality interactivity diminished systematic processing, leading to lower quitting intentions.

Comparative evaluation of the efficacy of two controlled release devices: Chlorhexidine chips and indigenous curcumin based collagen as local drug delivery systems.

AIM: To comparatively evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of chlorhexidine (CHX) chips (Periocol-CG) and indigenous curcumin (CU) based collagen as adjuncts to scaling and root planning in the nonsurgical management of chronic periodontitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 120 sites from 60 patients presenting with chronic periodontitis (age group 25-55 years) of both sexes, with pocket depth of ≥5 mm with radiographic evidence of bilateral bone loss were earmarked for the study. A split mouth design was employed, and all the clinical parameters-plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment levels (CAL) were recorded at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. However, the microbiological parameters, i.e., N-benzoyl-DL-arginine-ß-naphthylamide (BANA) test and microbial colony count were recorded at baseline, 3 months and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Significant reduction in plaque and gingival index scores were observed in both groups at the end of the study period, i.e., 6 months. The microbiological parameters (BANA test, microbial colony count), PPD and CAL levels also showed significant improvement in both groups. However, at the end of the study period CHX group showed greater improvement in all of these parameters compared to CU collagen group. CONCLUSION: Future directions of this study should include targeting the beneficial effects of these local drug delivery systems at varied concentrations so that they could be utilized to achieve the maximum beneficial therapeutic effects in the nonsurgical treatment of periodontal disease.