Sarah E Vaala1, Matthew B Ritter, Deepak Palakshappa. 1. Nido R. Qubein School of Communication, High Point University, High Point, North Carolina (Drs Vaala and Ritter); Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Dr Palakshappa) and Division of Public Health Sciences (Dr Palakshappa), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Abstract
CONTEXT: Public health officials and celebrities use social media to provide guidance to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Messages apply different promotional strategies to motivate behavior change, likely yielding divergent reactions from partisan audiences. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) suggests that perceived threat for a negative outcome should impact perceived need for the advocated health behavior, which should be more appealing to an audience if perceived it to be efficacious and feasible. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the interactive effects of Tweet source, message emotional appeal, and audience political affiliation on US adults' perceptions of COVID-19 threat and social distancing efficacy during early months of the pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: This online survey experiment applies the EPPM to assess US adults' reactions to tweets encouraging social distancing. The experiment tests 3 emotional appeals (fear, humor, and neutral) and 2 sources (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and celebrity) on adults' emotional reactions and perceptions of COVID-19 threat and social distancing efficacy. PARTICIPANTS: The final sample included 415 US adults (242 Democrat and 173 Republican) recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures were adapted from the EPPM and include perceived susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19, and response efficacy and self-efficacy regarding social distancing. Each was measured through the survey on a 7-point response scale. RESULTS: Humor and fear appeal messages evoked less fear and guilt responses than a neutral tweet from the CDC. Fear and guilt emotions predicted greater perceived threat, while hope and pride predicted efficacy constructs in relationships moderated by political ideology. CONCLUSIONS: Public health messages targeting a bipartisan audience through social media may increase perceived threat by inducing fear of COVID-19 infection. EPPM theory suggests boosting efficacy is also critical to message acceptance and behavior change; thus, inducing feelings of hope and pride in addition to fear may be particularly effective.
CONTEXT: Public health officials and celebrities use social media to provide guidance to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Messages apply different promotional strategies to motivate behavior change, likely yielding divergent reactions from partisan audiences. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) suggests that perceived threat for a negative outcome should impact perceived need for the advocated health behavior, which should be more appealing to an audience if perceived it to be efficacious and feasible. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the interactive effects of Tweet source, message emotional appeal, and audience political affiliation on US adults' perceptions of COVID-19 threat and social distancing efficacy during early months of the pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: This online survey experiment applies the EPPM to assess US adults' reactions to tweets encouraging social distancing. The experiment tests 3 emotional appeals (fear, humor, and neutral) and 2 sources (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and celebrity) on adults' emotional reactions and perceptions of COVID-19 threat and social distancing efficacy. PARTICIPANTS: The final sample included 415 US adults (242 Democrat and 173 Republican) recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures were adapted from the EPPM and include perceived susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19, and response efficacy and self-efficacy regarding social distancing. Each was measured through the survey on a 7-point response scale. RESULTS: Humor and fear appeal messages evoked less fear and guilt responses than a neutral tweet from the CDC. Fear and guilt emotions predicted greater perceived threat, while hope and pride predicted efficacy constructs in relationships moderated by political ideology. CONCLUSIONS: Public health messages targeting a bipartisan audience through social media may increase perceived threat by inducing fear of COVID-19 infection. EPPM theory suggests boosting efficacy is also critical to message acceptance and behavior change; thus, inducing feelings of hope and pride in addition to fear may be particularly effective.
Authors: Mehr Shafiq; Jad A Elharake; Amyn A Malik; SarahAnn M McFadden; Obianuju Genevieve Aguolu; Saad B Omer Journal: J Public Health Manag Pract Date: 2021 May-Jun 01
Authors: Rose Weeks; Lyra Cooper; Pooja Sangha; João Sedoc; Sydney White; Assaf Toledo; Shai Gretz; Dan Lahav; Nina Martin; Alexandra Michel; Jae Hyoung Lee; Noam Slonim; Naor Bar-Zeev Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2022-07-06 Impact factor: 7.076