ABSTRACTS
Volume 12, Number 7
October 2007
Vol. 12, Number 7: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts
The Effect of Qualifying Language on Perceptions of Drug Appeal, Drug Experience, and Estimates of Side-Effect Incidence in DTC Advertising
Joel Davis a
a School of Journalism & Media Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
This study examined how the use of qualifying language in direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising affects consumers' perceptions of drug appeal, anticipated pleasantness of drug usage, and the expected incidence of side-effect occurrence. A sample of 669 individuals participated in a 2 × 8 complete factorial design. The design manipulated the number of side effects associated with drug use and the type of qualifying language used to describe the side effects. The eight experimental qualifying language cells represented one control condition (no qualifying language), three cells where each of three types of qualifying language were presented individually, and four cells where qualifying language was combined. The results indicate that qualifying language has a profound effect on drug perceptions, especially when used in combination. Drug appeal and the anticipated drug-using experience almost always were more positive in the presence of qualifying language. Qualifying language appears to exert its influence by causing individuals to reduce their estimate of the likelihood of experiencing individual side effects. Policy implications of the research, particularly for evaluation of "fair balance" and the reporting of side effects, are presented.
The Relative Persuasiveness of Gain-Framed Loss-Framed Messages for Encouraging Disease Prevention Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review
Daniel J. O'Keefe a; Jakob D. Jensen b
a Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
b Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
A meta-analytic review of 93 studies (N = 21,656) finds that in disease prevention messages, gain-framed appeals, which emphasize the advantages of compliance with the communicator's recommendation, are statistically significantly more persuasive than loss-framed appeals, which emphasize the disadvantages of noncompliance. This difference is quite small (corresponding to r = .03), however, and appears attributable to a relatively large (and statistically significant) effect for messages advocating dental hygiene behaviors. Despite very good statistical power, the analysis finds no statistically significant differences in persuasiveness between gain- and loss-framed messages concerning other preventive actions such as safer-sex behaviors, skin cancer prevention behaviors, or diet and nutrition behaviors.
The Effectiveness of Gain-Framed Messages for Encouraging Disease Prevention Behavior: Is All Hope Lost?
Amy E. Latimer a; Peter Salovey b; Alexander J. Rothman c
a Queen's University, School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
b Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
c Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
This commentary is a response to O'Keefe and Jensen's (2007/this issue) meta-analysis of the persuasive effects of gain- and loss-framed messages encouraging disease prevention behaviors. We suggest that the future of message framing is promising with newly emerging approaches to increasing message effectiveness.
Assessing Health Numeracy Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Lorie Donelle a; Laurie Hoffman-Goetz b; Jose F. Arocha b
a Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
b Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Quantitative information occupies a central role within health care decision making. Despite this, numeracy has attracted little research attention. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to (1) describe the health numeracy skill of a nonclinical, Canadian community-based senior population and (2) determine the relationship between health numeracy skill and prose health literacy, education, and math anxiety in this population. A convenience sample of 140 men and women, 50 + years, completed a questionnaire assessing demographic details, math anxiety, functional health literacy (Shortened Test of Functional Health Literacy for Adults STOFHLA), general context numeracy, and health context numeracy skills. Most participants had adequate functional health literacy (prose and numeracy) as measured by the STOFHLA, poorer general context numeracy skill, higher health context numeracy skill, and moderate math anxiety. Approximately 36% of the variation in general context numeracy scores and 26% of the variation in health context numeracy scores were explained by prose health literacy skill (STOFHLA), math anxiety, and attained education. This research offers an initial assessment of health numeracy skills as measured by three existing numeracy scales among a group of independently functioning older Canadian adults. This work highlights the need for clarification of the numeracy concept and refinement of health numeracy assessment instruments. Moreover, identifying patients' numeracy strengths and weaknesses will enable the development of focused numeracy interventions and may contribute to moving individuals further along the continuum of health literacy proficiency.
Perceptions of Traditional Information Sources and Use of the World Wide Web to Seek Health Information: Findings From the Health Information National Trends Survey
Stephen A. Rains a
a Department of Communication, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
As medical information becomes increasingly available and individuals take a more active role in managing their personal health, it is essential for scholars to better understand the general public's information-seeking behavior. The study reported here explores the use of the World Wide Web to seek health information in a contemporary information-media environment. Drawing from uses and gratifications theory and the comprehensive model of health information seeking, perceptions of traditional information sources (e.g., mass media, one's health care provider, etc.) are posited to predict use of the Web to seek health information and perceptions of information acquired from searches. Data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS; N = 3982) were analyzed to test study hypotheses. Trust in information-oriented media, entertainment-oriented media, and one's health care provider all predicted Web use behavior and perceptions. The implications of the findings for research on information seeking and the role of the Web in patient empowerment are discussed.
Utilizing Computerized Entertainment Education in the Development of Decision Aids for Lower Literate and Naïve Computer Users
Authors: Maria L. Jibaja-Weiss a; Robert J. Volk a
a Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Houston Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
Decision aids have been developed by using various delivery methods, including interactive computer programs. Such programs, however, still rely heavily on written information, health and digital literacy, and reading ease. We describe an approach to overcome these potential barriers for low-literate, underserved populations by making design considerations for poor readers and naïve computer users and by using concepts from entertainment education to engage the user and to contextualize the content for the user. The system design goals are to make the program both didactic and entertaining and the navigation and graphical user interface as simple as possible. One entertainment education strategy, the soap opera, is linked seamlessly to interactive learning modules to enhance the content of the soap opera episodes. The edutainment decision aid model (EDAM) guides developers through the design process. Although designing patient decision aids that are educational, entertaining, and targeted toward poor readers and those with limited computer skills is a complex task, it is a promising strategy for aiding this population. Entertainment education may be a highly effective approach to promoting informed decision making for patients with low health literacy.
view references (67)
Book Review
Ellingson, L. (2005). Communicating in the Clinic: Negotiating Frontstage Backstage Teamwork
Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Lynn M. Harter
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