%0 Journal Article
%@ 2561-326X
%I JMIR Publications
%V 7
%N 
%P e41959
%T Effects of Prosocial and Hope-Promoting Communication Strategies on COVID-19 Worry and Intentions for Risk-Reducing Behaviors and Vaccination: Experimental Study
%A Scharnetzki,Elizabeth
%A Waterston,Leo
%A Scherer,Aaron M
%A Thorpe,Alistair
%A Fagerlin,Angela
%A Han,Paul K J
%+ Center for Interdisciplinary Population and Health Research, MaineHealth Institute for Research, 509 Forest Ave., Suite 200, Portland, ME, 04101, United States, 1 8053409716, elizabeth.scharnetzki@mainehealth.org
%K COVID-19
%K communication
%K hope
%K prosocial
%K vaccination
%K risk
%K behavior
%K vaccine
%K effect
%K communication
%K effectiveness
%K social
%K messages
%K public
%K web-based
%K survey
%D 2023
%7 1.8.2023
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Form Res
%G English
%X Background: The 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 prosocial (PS) values and hope are being widely used; 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 PS and hope-promoting (HP) strategies. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of PS and HP messages in reassuring the public and motivating COVID-19 risk–reducing behaviors. Methods: A web-based 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: PS, HP, or no additional framing (control). Participants then completed surveys measuring COVID-19 worry and intentions for COVID-19 risk–reducing behaviors and vaccination. Results: COVID-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. Conclusions: It appears that HP communication strategies may be more effective than PS strategies in motivating risk-reducing behaviors in some contexts but with the paradoxical cost of promoting worry. 
%M 37379364
%R 10.2196/41959
%U https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e41959
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/41959
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37379364