Health Behavior and Health Education
theory, research, and practice
Individual Level Theories
- Two areas of communication research are germane to health:
- Message Production
- Examines the social and organizational factors in media work that shape the creation of content that may influence health behavior
- Interest is on message production processes for creating news, information, advertising and entertainment
- Media Effects
- Examines consequences of media exposure on individuals, groups, institutions and social systems
- Outcome of media dissemination if images, ideas, themes and stories are commonly discussed
- Looks at audiences not as passive recipients but as active seekers and users of information
- Media effects research has changed from its dominant focus from attitude to studying the cognitive impact and emphasizing formation of community agendas and social systems level of analysis
- Message Production
- Individual Level Theories
- Theories used at the individual level include: Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (chapter four), Health Belief Model (chapter three) and Social Cognitive Theory (chapter eight).
- The Integrative Behavioral Model (IBM) has been recently introduced to bring these theories together and apply them to the context of explaining media effects on marijuana use and sexual behavior.
- Integrative Behavioral Model (IBM)
- IBM argues that human behavior is influenced by a core set of determinants, including, perceived susceptibility (risk), norms and beliefs of the social environment, attitudes toward the message, self-efficacy and intentions to change.
- Understanding how these factors relate to and influence each other can help predict behavior.
- Key proposition is that media effects vary depending on the behavior and population under study.
- Media messages can be targeted depending on which set of beliefs could most likely influence behavioral intentions.
- Information Processing Theories
- Information processing theories focus on how media messages may lead to changes in attitudes or in reinforcing existing attitudes
- They provide explanations for how message elements are critical ingredients that interact with motivation and ability to influence information processing.
- Two relevant theories
- Elaboration Likelihood Models (ELM)
- Heuristic-Systematic Processing Model (HSM)
- Both theories imply that persuasive messages, such as anti-smoking messages, may be processed in two possible ways:
- A central or systematic processing route involving deliberate, thoughtful weighing of message arguments and the changes accompanying such processing are likely to be more enduring
- Alternatively, peripheral or heuristic processing occurs in low motivation conditions and the recipient relies on peripheral or heuristic processing such as celebrity status of a spokesperson pitching a product.
- Message Effect Theories
- Focus on the elements of execution in a message.
- Assumes that formats and construction of message messages interact with attitudes and abilities to influence information processing.
- Commonly investigated elements include framing, exemplification, narratives and sensation seeking.
- Framing refers to how messages frame an argument which could be positively or negatively.
- E.g. presenting the advantages of quitting smoking or emphasizing the consequences of not quitting
- Framing can also be defined based on the frame sponsors and culture
- E.g. abortion has been framed as "pro-choice" or "pro-life" which lends different interpretations to the same issue and potentially different effects on the audience
- Elements of Message Effect Theories
- Exemplars are constructed to serve as illustrations of a general class of events.
- Exemplars that are simple, emotional and concrete are most effective.
- Narratives are stories with a persuasive twist.
- Narratives have been used to promote family planning, AIDS education and healthy lifestyles.
- It is widely believed that narratives have powerful effects on the audience but systematic evidence is at a nascent stage of accumulation.
- Sensation Seeking is a personality trait that is characterized by search for novelty, thrill seeking and impulsive decision-making and which influences attention, processing and comprehension of messages.
- Sensation seekers prefer intensity and stimulation in their experiences and are more likely to indulge in risky behaviors such as illicit drugs use.
- Messages with high sensation values are more likely to be effective among this audience, as they have been successfully used in discouraging drug use and promoting safe sex.
- Exemplars are constructed to serve as illustrations of a general class of events.