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Effects of pro-social and hope-promoting communication strategies on COVID-19 worry and intentions for risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination: An experimental study
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Effects of pro-social and hope-promoting communication strategies on COVID-19 worry and intentions for risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination: An experimental study

Elizabeth Scharnetzki, Leo Waterston, Aaron M Scherer, Alistair Thorpe, Angela Fagerlin and Paul Kj Han
JMIR formative research, Vol.7, e41959
08/01/2023
DOI: 10.2196/41959
PMCID: PMC10411423
PMID: 37379364
url
https://doi.org/10.2196/41959View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe COVID-19 pandemic has engendered widespread fear and skepticism about recommended risk-reducing behaviors including vaccination. Health agencies are faced with the need to communicate to the public in ways that both provide reassurance and promote risk-reducing behaviors. Communication strategies that promote pro-social values and hope are being widely employed, however, the existing research on the persuasiveness of these strategies has offered mixed evidence. There is also very little research examining the comparative effectiveness of pro-social and hope-promoting strategies. OBJECTIVETo evaluate the comparative effectiveness of pro-social and hope-promoting messages in reassuring the public and motivating COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors. METHODSAn online factorial experiment was conducted in which a diverse sample of the US public was randomized to read messages which adapted existing COVID-19 information from a public website produced by a state government public health department to include alternative framing language: pro-social (PS), hope-promoting (HP), or no additional framing (Control). Participants then completed surveys measuring COVID-19 worry and intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination. RESULTSCOVID-19 worry was unexpectedly higher in the HP than in the Control and PS conditions. Intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors did not differ between groups; however, intentions for COVID-19 vaccination were higher in the HP than in the Control condition, and this effect was mediated by COVID-19 worry. CONCLUSIONSIt appears that hope-promoting communication strategies may be more effective than Pro-social strategies in motivating risk-reducing behaviors, in some contexts, but with the paradoxical cost of promoting worry. CLINICALTRIAL

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