Journal of Health Communication最新文献

Communication scholars warn against focusing on individual behaviors when discussing health issues, arguing that doing so can reduce affect and policy support. Although COVID-19 outcomes are linked to structural barriers to treatment, policy interventions appear to improve outcomes for vulnerable groups. Thus, strategic messages must promote public understanding of social determinants and policy support related to COVID-19. Using concepts from attribution theory and narrative persuasion, we employed an experiment (N = 435) testing the effects of personal responsibility (high, moderate, and low) on affective engagement and COVID-19 policy support. Namely, the manuscript examines (a) affective responses to characters displaying varying levels of personal responsibility for COVID-19 prevention, (b) the impact of these affective responses on policy support, and (c) the moderating role of audience political ideology on these effects. Analyses revealed that a highly responsible protagonist elicited empathy and perceived similarity, increasing policy support. While participants' political ideology moderated protagonist responsibility on perceived similarity, a more responsible protagonist evoked empathy independently of political leaning. Theoretical and practical implications are offered.

The use of recreational cannabis is becoming legal in more states across the United States. With that, many cannabis-infused products were developed, and regulation surrounding cannabis product packaging was created to ensure packaging was not especially appealing to young people. We conducted small group online focus groups and in-depth interviews with 28 Washington teens (13-17 years-old) about their perceptions of cannabis edible product packages, such as gummies and pretzels, and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. We found that many teens perceived cannabis packages to be appealing because of their aesthetics such as bright colors and the pictures on the package, as well as the lifestyles the products promoted. Additionally, we identified that teens with greater cannabis knowledge and product literacy were more skeptical of the cannabis product packages. Our findings have implications for health educators and policymakers. Efforts to include teen perspectives in the regulatory process could be beneficial, and prevention specialists may want to focus efforts on improving teens' cannabis knowledge and product literacy to empower them to be more critical of cannabis product packaging.

This study examines which types of perceived social norms are strongly associated with professional mental health help-seeking (PMHS), and whether and how such associations are moderated by evaluative identification among college students. We conducted an online survey with 638 Korean adults. Results show that general college students' perceived injunctive norms (β = .37, p < .001) have the strongest associations with intentions, followed by close friends' perceived descriptive norms (β = .22, p < .001). Also, there was a significant positive interaction between perceived injunctive norms among general college students and evaluative identification (β = .18, p < .001), between friends' perceived descriptive norms and evaluative identification (β = .07, p < .001), as well as between family perceived injunctive norms and evaluative identification (β = .13, p < .01). The findings suggest that distal reference group norms and evaluative identification are crucial in promoting PMHS.

This study investigates the effectiveness of different social media communication strategies in promoting radon information-seeking behaviors and intentions to test for radon. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the study explores the interaction between the peripheral and the central routes of persuasion in promoting radon protection behaviors across four European countries: Austria, Belgium, Ireland, and Slovenia (N=1,677). The "Radon Buster campaign," containing Facebook advertisements and a website, was specifically developed for this study. An online survey experiment evaluated the impact of the Facebook advertisements on radon information-seeking intentions and the impact of the website on radon testing intentions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions (narratives, humor, or norm nudges), or included in a prior-exposure control group, followed by interaction with the website. The results show a direct positive effect of the exposure and appreciation of the posts on information-seeking intentions. However, mixed effects were found regarding the moderation of website appreciation and counterarguing on the effect of the website on the intention to test. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of engaging communication strategies that are designed to evoke both peripheral and central route processing to effectively promote radon awareness and testing behaviors.

Recent research indicates that a majority of individuals (78.4%) are willing to use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT for health-related purposes. However, how individuals perceive and evaluate AI as a source of health information remains less understood. Drawing on literature from AI aversion and the stereotype content model, this study compares perceptions of warmth and competence between ChatGPT and human doctors. Results indicate that when delivering the same health information on moderate drinking, ChatGPT is perceived as less warm and competent than human doctors. This perception further leads to decreased intentions to share the information. Additionally, we examine the moderating effect of prior AI exposure, finding that discrepancies in perceived warmth and competence disappear for those with extensive AI exposure. Individuals with substantial AI experience perceive similar levels of warmth and competence and are equally likely to share health information from ChatGPT as from a human doctor.

 The topic of adolescent sexual education has been of longstanding concern to health communication scholars, as have mediated sexual socialization processes and effects. Yet few investigations have explored how sexual media use affects adults' attitudes toward adolescent sex education, despite the vital role of public opinion in the policy making process and continued evidence of sexual media's widespread popularity. The present paper presents a replication of a seminal study in this area in the context of a pornography measurement experiment. The replicative component compares results from the original and contemporary data using the same pornography consumption measure. The experimental component compares results in the contemporary data generated by two differing pornography consumption measures. Data are from an ongoing national probability survey of U.S. adults. Results supported the replicability of the original findings suggesting that pornography consumption indirectly affects U.S. adults' support for sex education in public schools through increased acceptance of adolescents' sexual behavior, but this mechanistic process is more likely for the less religious and less likely for the more religious. Implications for the sexual script acquisition, activation, application model's (₃AM) morality clause and abstract scripting postulate, pornography consumption measurement, replication science, and socially polarizing research topics are discussed.

This paper explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on information seeking behavior research and practice, including the need to scrutinize existing information seeking theory, challenge the understood behavioral norms, and consider redefining information literacy and information retrieval education. The historical examination spans from the 1950s to the present, with a specific focus on recent developments in health information seeking and the evaluation of medical information sources. Key to this exploration are ongoing debates in healthcare, ethics, and AI and information literacy education, which represent important dimensions of the impact of emerging technology on information-seeking behavior. The insights provided by this research can be useful for both researchers and practitioners, aiding them in navigating the evolving landscape shaped by AI technology.

A quasi-experiment (N = 198) examined how evidence types (narrative, causal, statistical) influence dissemination intentions for health messages targeting sedentary behavior, with dual moderating roles of health risk perception (HRP) and construal level (CL). Results revealed that both narrative and causal evidence significantly outperformed statistical evidence in promoting information dissemination. Moderator analyses demonstrated that: (1) HRP amplified evidence-type effects, with significant differences emerging only when HRP exceeded threshold levels (4.12); (2) CL moderated processing efficacy, as evidence-type effects were pronounced under low CL but nonsignificant at high CL; and (3) a synergistic dual-moderation pattern emerged, where maximal dissemination occurred under high HRP + low CL conditions. These findings establish causal evidence as a distinct persuasive tool and propose a motivation-cognition fit framework for optimizing health message design.

Co-design, a collaborative approach where end-users are actively involved in design processes, has gained traction in health communication. Its integration into health communication initiatives holds promise for amplifying the voices of people with disability. Despite this, its application remains inconsistent. This scoping literature review explores how people with disability are included, when and through what methods to co-design health communication interventions. Principles of importance are considered and identified. Thirty articles published between 2018 and 2023 were reviewed. The review identified a range of methods used in health communication initiatives, with people with disability engaging at different stages and in different ways. While co-design offers potential for improved health communication, challenges such as unpredictable outcomes, diversity of participant needs, and barriers to full engagement persist. Improved transparency and consistency in reporting co-design processes are recommended to enhance rigor and effectiveness of future initiatives.

This study examines the role of need for affect (NFA) and perceived prior knowledge about HPV in processing messages about the vaccine. In an experiment with 479 US parents of unvaccinated children, participants were assigned to one of the three conditions (narrative, non-narrative, or no message). Results showed that perceived prior knowledge and NFA were positively correlated with transportation, vaccination intentions, and information-seeking. The effects of NFA were stronger in the narrative condition. For parents with low perceived prior knowledge, NFA was linked to transportation and intentions in the narrative condition, but this was not observed for those with high prior knowledge or in non-narrative conditions. The study discusses its theoretical and practical implications.