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

The Use of Narrative in Science and Health Communication: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Many people deny science and reject health recommendations despite widely distributed facts and statistics. Didactic science and health communication is often dry, and relies on the false assumption that people make purely evidence-based decisions. Stories can be a powerful teaching tool by capturing attention and evoking emotion.

OBJECTIVE

We explore the impact and appeal of, and describe best practices for, using narrative (storytelling) versus didactic methods in science and health communication.

PATIENT INVOLVEMENT

No patients were involved in the review process.

METHODS

We searched PubMed and Web of Science for articles either: assessing effectiveness of narrative science/health communication; assessing acceptability of (or preference for) narrative science/health communication; giving advice on how best to use narrative; and/or providing science-based explanations for how/why narrative succeeds.

RESULTS

Narrative science/health communication is effective and appealing for audiences across a variety of topics and mediums, with supporting evidence across fields such as epidemiology, neuroscience, and psychology. Whether narrative or didactic messaging is most effective depends on the topic, audience, and objective, as well as message quality. However, combining narrative with didactic methods is likely to be more effective than using either strategy alone.

DISCUSSION

Narrative science/health communication merits wider implementation and further research. Narrative communication creates openness to information by delaying the formulation of counterarguments.

PRACTICAL VALUE

Science and health communicators should collaborate with cultural and storytelling experts, work directly with their target audiences throughout the message development and testing processes, and rely on popular story elements (e.g., first-person point of view, relatable protagonists) to improve the comprehension, engagement, and thoughtful consideration of their intended audience.

FUNDING

This work was funded by Thirty Meter Telescope, with which two authors (GKS and SD) were affiliated. Otherwise, the funding organization had no role in the study and/or submission.

The Role of Narrative Pictorial Warning Labels in Communicating Alcohol-Related Cancer Risks

This study examined the role of pictorial warning labels (PWLs) featuring narrative content in communicating alcohol-related cancer risks. In an online experiment, 169 adult alcohol consumers were randomly assigned to view two narrative PWLs, two non-narrative PWLs, or control. Results showed that exposure to narrative PWLs significantly increased participants' worry about, feelings of risk of, and perceived severity of harm of getting alcohol-related cancer, but did not affect their comparative likelihood of getting alcohol-related cancer or intentions to reduce alcohol use. Exposure to narrative PWLs also indirectly influenced intentions through increased worry. Moreover, participants' risk perceptions and intentions in non-narrative PWLs condition did not differ from those in narrative PWLs and control conditions. Therefore, these findings suggest that narrative PWLs are a promising strategy in informing consumers about the cancer risks of alcohol.

Effects of narratives, frames, and involvement on health message effectiveness

An online 2 (evidence type: narrative vs. informational) × 2 (message frame: gain vs. loss) × 2 (involvement: low vs. high) between-subjects factorial experiment was conducted to examine their effects in skin cancer awareness campaigns. Results showed that loss-framed narratives were convincing for high-involved individuals, whereas both gain-framed informational and loss-framed narratives evoked higher issue attitudes and behavioral intentions for low-involved ones. Mediation analyses showed that identification with the story protagonist mediated narrative effects on the outcome variables. Theoretical and practical implications for sun protection awareness campaigns are discussed.

Exploring the Role of Regulatory Focus and Processing Fluency in the Effectiveness of Narrative versus Non-narrative Advertising: A Study about Sugar Intake in the USA

Given that many health problems in the United States are closely related to high sugar consumption, this research examined the effectiveness of ad forms (narrative vs. non-narrative) on persuading people to limit sugar intake through an online experiment completed by 1,104 participants. It was found that individual difference of regulatory focus moderated the effect of narrative vs. non-narrative advertising. Moreover, this study revealed an underlying mechanism of how audiences processed narrative vs. non-narrative advertising differently via the mediator of processing fluency, and further resulted in different advertising effectiveness. The findings contributed in providing implications for policy makers and ad professionals to help them with the improvement of public's health in the USA.

Can Narrative Advertisement and eWOM Influence Generation Z Purchase Intentions?

Digital platforms have made Generation Z able to listen to the story from both sides, i.e., the brand’s promotional messages, and the consumers’ experiences. To capture an audience’s attention on endless entertainment and informational platforms, narrative advertisement is deployed to trigger emotions and feelings. As digital communities continue to grow, both brands and consumers are using narrative advertising to share their opinions. Hence, the purpose of this research was to investigate how the upcoming generation of consumers will be affected by the two information sources, i.e., the brands via narrative advertising, and peer consumers through electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Furthermore, the mediated role of persuasion knowledge was examined among the constructs. Theoretical foundations were empirically tested using quantitative research analysis. The data was collected from a sample of 304 Generation Z respondents from Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 22.0 was executed to determine cause and effect relationships. This study offers new evidence regarding the effective mobilization of eWOM and narrative advertising in the context of Generation Z. The results indicate narrative advertising to have strong effects on Generation Z purchase intentions as compared to eWOM.

The Role of Temporal Distance Perception in Narrative vs. Non-Narrative Persuasion Related to E-Cigarettes

Research has long identified narrative persuasion as an effective health communication strategy. This study explores temporal distance perception, which is the perceived distance of a health threat, as a possible psychological mechanism through which narrative persuasion influences young adults' attitude and behavioral intention related to e-cigarette use. When reading the narrative message featuring negative consequences of nicotine addiction, participants demonstrate a higher level of transportation and subsequently perceive the health threat related to e-cigarette as temporally closer. The shortened temporal distance perception, along with transportation, mediates the relationship between exposure to the narrative message and participants' attitude and behavioral intention. Participants' past experience also plays an important role. In particular, participants who have not used e-cigarette before report more negative attitude after reading the narrative message. Findings of the current study indicate that narrative persuasion may be an effective strategy to deter young adults from using e-cigarettes.

The Effect of Temporal Frames in Anti-Smoking Messages on the Extension of Anti-Smoking Arguments to Smokers

The present study focused on how exposure to different health message characteristics can affect extension-i.e., the sharing of arguments that were not targeted by the messages but are consistent with the message theme. In the context of anti-smoking campaigns, many messages have either emphasized reasons to quit smoking (why-quit) or ways to quit smoking (how-to-quit). Therefore, guided by construal level theory, the study aimed to examine whether the message characteristic of temporal frames can increase or decrease extension when incorporated into why-quit and how-to-quit anti-smoking messages. Results from a randomized experiment showed that exposure to why-quit messages with distant temporal frames increased extension (vs. no-message control) while why-quit messages with proximal temporal frames did not. Findings further illustrated a potential mechanism, where why-quit messages with proximal frames significantly reduced extension compared to why-quit messages with no temporal frames. Temporal frames did not have a significant effect on extension for how-to-quit messages. Results indicate that emphasizing the present in anti-smoking messages could be detrimental for the extension of why-quit arguments. Implications for applying construal level theory to health message effects research are also discussed.

Testing the Replication and Extension of Why-Quit and How-To-Quit Antismoking Health Messages

Research on health campaigns and interpersonal communication has seldom examined how campaign message exposure can influence the transmission of campaign-relevant information into interpersonal communication. Specifically, an individual exposed to a campaign message may send the message's core argument (replication) or other campaign-consistent information (extension) to additional campaign targets. Replication and extension may enhance campaign effects because they are expected to extend a campaign's reach and produce more campaign-consistent communication. Using a randomized controlled experiment, this study examined how exposure to why-quit and how-to-quit themed antismoking messages influences replication and extension. Study results showed that while both why-quit and how-to-quit messages were successful in increasing replication, only why-quit messages were successful in influencing extension. The study results demonstrate that there is variation in the degree of how messages can successfully be replicated or extended in interpersonal contexts, which can inform campaign development.