The effects of humor in health promotional messages on a college campus

This study examined how perceived threat moderates the effects of message type (humor vs. non-humor) on attitude and behavior intentions toward a mental health public service announcement (PSA) on a college campus. To investigate the relationships, a between-subject experimental survey was employed for 209 undergraduate students. Findings revealed a significant interaction effect between message type and perceived threat on attitude toward the PSA, visiting intention to a health center, and eWOM intention. Moreover, the moderated mediating role of attitude toward the PSA on visiting intention to a health center and eWOM intention was observed.

Post-Legalization Drug Communication: Examining a Colorado Cannabis Campaign

Colorado legalized marijuana use for recreational purposes by adults over 21 in 2012. Our goal is to examine the first major communication campaign (called Good-To-Know) mounted by the state government with the objective of informing the public regarding regulatory and safety precautions surrounding newly legal use. Methods: We assess the content of campaign's central messaging qualitatively by comparing its major themes in terms of criteria developed from the literature and the campaign's own goals. Results: With minor exceptions (lack of audience segmentation; limiting the focus to generating knowledge) Colorado's Good-To-Know campaign rates well when assessed against specific criteria for effective drug communication campaigns as well as its own goals. Conclusions: We conclude that although there were minor limitations to this campaign, policy makers and activists should think proactively about messaging content in states where legalization is imminent. And that more research on legal drug use messaging needs to occur.

Feeling pressured by health prevention campaigns as a motivational force: Examining the role of visual and verbal mode design features

This research examines the influence of address style (direct, no address) and narrative voice (first-person, third-person) on the feeling of being pressured by a public service announcement about work stress in two sequential studies. The results of a choice-based conjoint analysis show that persuasive messages designed with a first-person narrative voice and direct address tend to pressure recipients. Results of a between-subjects online experiment suggest that this feeling increases subjects' behavioral intentions to prevent stress when people interact parasocially with the displayed character. Both direct address and first-person narrative voice led directly to reduced behavioral intention to prevent stress.

Communicating with older people about physical activity

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about how to effectively encourage higher levels of activity among older people. This study tested the effectiveness of a public service advertisement designed according to recommendations for communicating with older audiences and featuring five types of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity: tennis, line dancing, cycling, swimming and jogging.

METHODS

A survey administered to 1,200 Australians aged 50+ years assessed effects of the public service advertisement on: motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic); perceived believability, relevance, and effectiveness; and feelings elicited (e.g. interest, hope, guilt). Open-ended questions enabled respondents to describe aspects of the ad they considered to be most and least effective.

RESULTS

Moderate to high scores were obtained on the motivation measures and the ad evaluation criteria of perceived effectiveness, likeability, believability and personal relevance. Mean scores for the feelings measures were generally low, with the exception of the positive feelings of being interested, inspired, hopeful and determined.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest physical activity promotion ads can be motivating across age and socioeconomic subgroups of older people. Implications for public health: Ads aiming to encourage older people to be more physically active may be accepted and effective if they depict everyday older people enjoying a range of relevant activities.

['Dites Je Suis Là', a platform to guide the relatives of suicidal people]

The purpose of the 'Dites Je Suis Là' platform is to disseminate a simple, clear and scientifically validated message to the general public to raise awareness of the warning signs of suicide. This awareness-raising campaign complements the existing support systems for suicidal people. Their loved ones can find tools for understanding and questioning their potential as caregivers. If they are willing to support a person in pain, six steps guide them in how to act to prevent suicide. Lifting the taboo around suicidal thoughts, encouraging the use of help and care, and maintaining a sincere and warm relationship are among the key elements.

Assessment of the Effectiveness of Identity-Based Public Health Announcements in Increasing the Likelihood of Complying With COVID-19 Guidelines: Randomized Controlled Cross-sectional Web-Based Study

Background

Public health campaigns aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 are important in reducing disease transmission, but traditional information-based campaigns have received unexpectedly extreme backlash.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate whether customizing of public service announcements (PSAs) providing health guidelines to match individuals’ identities increases their compliance.

Methods

We conducted a within- and between-subjects, randomized controlled cross-sectional, web-based study in July 2020. Participants viewed two PSAs: one advocating wearing a mask in public settings and one advocating staying at home. The control PSA only provided information, and the treatment PSAs were designed to appeal to the identities held by individuals; that is, either a Christian identity or an economically motivated identity. Participants were asked about their identity and then provided a control PSA and treatment PSA matching their identity, in random order. The PSAs were of approximately 100 words.

Results

We recruited 300 social media users from Amazon Mechanical Turk in accordance with usual protocols to ensure data quality. In total, 8 failed the data quality checks, and the remaining 292 were included in the analysis. In the identity-based PSA, the source of the PSA was changed, and a phrase of approximately 12 words relevant to the individual’s identity was inserted. A PSA tailored for Christians, when matched with a Christian identity, increased the likelihood of compliance by 12 percentage points. A PSA that focused on economic values, when shown to individuals who identified as economically motivated, increased the likelihood of compliance by 6 points.

Conclusions

Using social media to deliver COVID-19 public health announcements customized to individuals’ identities is a promising measure to increase compliance with public health guidelines.

Trial Registration

ISRCTN Registry 22331899; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN22331899.

Health risk communication message comprehension is influenced by image inclusion

The impact of images on risk communications such as public service announcements is unknown. Whether images contained within a printed message such as a food safety warning alters the comprehension of the underlying text, has not previously been explored. The present study examined three factors of a risk communication in the print form: (1) the role images play in promoting comprehension of risk messages, (2) how demographic variables such as gender impacts message reception and (3) the need for cognition, or the degree to which some individuals are innately motivated to comprehend and understand information. Examples of risk communications in the print form are warnings on food or tobacco and alcohol warnings. In the present study, students at an undergraduate university (N = 92, 61 females, age 19.89 (SD =1.94) years, range 18-32), read risk communications with and without images. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the affect images have on message comprehension and receptivity. Comprehension was assessed by the structural knowledge test. Negative/fear-arousing images increase message receptivity and subsequent learning when accompanying printed risk communications. Gender alone did not significantly impact message receptivity, although males tended to show greater change in structural knowledge pre- to post-test. This was true especially for the negative fear-arousing images condition. Need for cognition plays a significant role in message receptivity. Nevertheless, for risk communications illustrated with fear arousing images, it appears that the need for cognition is not a necessary condition to learn the message. Further research is needed to determine how these factors impact the degree or depth of message processing.

Alcohol counter-advertising and the media. A review of recent research

Counter-advertising commonly is used to balance the effects that alcohol advertising may have on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Such measures can take the form of print or broadcast advertisements (e.g., public service announcements [PSAs]) as well as product warning labels. The effectiveness of both types of counter-advertising is reviewed using the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical framework. For print and broadcast counter-advertisements, such factors as their emotional appeal and the credibility of the source, as well as audience factors, can influence their effectiveness. Further, brewer-sponsored counter-advertisements are evaluated and received differently than are the more conventional PSA counter-advertisements. For warning labels, both the content and design of the label influence their effectiveness, as do audience factors. The effectiveness of those labels is evaluated in terms of the extent to which they impact cognitive and affective processes as well as drinking behavior.

Fetal alcohol syndrome prevention research

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can have numerous adverse health consequences for the developing fetus, including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and alcohol-related effects, and therefore is a significant public health problem. A variety of programs have been developed to prevent drinking during pregnancy and the resulting health problems. Some of these efforts, such as public service announcements and beverage warning labels, are universal and strive to increase the public's knowledge about FAS. Selective prevention approaches target women of reproductive age who drink alcohol. Such approaches may involve screening all pregnant women for alcohol consumption and counseling those women who do drink. Indicated prevention approaches target high-risk women (e.g., women who have previously abused alcohol or have had a child with FAS or other alcohol-related effects) and typically offer repeated counseling over several years. Both selective and indicated prevention efforts can reduce maternal alcohol consumption and improve the outcome of the offspring.