Journal article
Testing for Dose-Response Relationships in Health Messaging: Dosage, Framing, and Intentions to Exercise
Journal of health communication
05/14/2026
DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2026.2673055
PMID: 42135955
Abstract
Determining the ideal dosage to maximize benefits and minimize side effects is a vital component of treatment. Yet, dosage has received limited attention in health communication. Existing scholarship suggests that gain and loss frames may require different dosage levels. The current research tested this supposition in a 3 (dose amount: 1, 2, or 3) × 2 (message frame: gain/loss) message experiment (
= 1007), operationalizing a dose as two bullet points detailing the benefits of exercise. The three-dose message yielded greater exercise intentions compared to the two-dose message. A gain-framed, three-dose message generated the highest perceived benefits of exercise. Dose had a positive, indirect effect on exercise intentions via greater perceived benefits and greater perceived dose. These findings underscore the pressing need to further theorize dosage in health communication scholarship.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Testing for Dose-Response Relationships in Health Messaging: Dosage, Framing, and Intentions to Exercise
- Creators
- Helen M Lillie - University of IowaAlexis S Vega - University of UtahYi Liao - University of UtahDallin R Adams - Sam Houston State UniversityJakob D Jensen - University of Utah
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of health communication
- DOI
- 10.1080/10810730.2026.2673055
- PMID
- 42135955
- ISSN
- 1087-0415
- eISSN
- 1087-0415
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 05/14/2026
- Academic Unit
- Communication Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9985163463302771
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