Title |
Reactions to threatening health messages
|
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Published in |
BMC Public Health, November 2012
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DOI | 10.1186/1471-2458-12-1011 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Gill A ten Hoor, Gjalt-Jorn Y Peters, Janice Kalagi, Lianne de Groot, Karlijne Grootjans, Alexander Huschens, Constanze Köhninger, Lizan Kölgen, Isabelle Pelssers, Toby Schütt, Sophia Thomas, Robert AC Ruiter, Gerjo Kok |
Abstract |
Threatening health messages that focus on severity are popular, but frequently have no effect or even a counterproductive effect on behavior change. This paradox (i.e. wide application despite low effectiveness) may be partly explained by the intuitive appeal of threatening communication: it may be hard to predict the defensive reactions occurring in response to fear appeals. We examine this hypothesis by using two studies by Brown and colleagues, which provide evidence that threatening health messages in the form of distressing imagery in anti-smoking and anti-alcohol campaigns cause defensive reactions. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 7 | 30% |
United States | 4 | 17% |
Netherlands | 4 | 17% |
Australia | 1 | 4% |
Portugal | 1 | 4% |
Spain | 1 | 4% |
Unknown | 5 | 22% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 16 | 70% |
Scientists | 4 | 17% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 9% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 3 | 4% |
Netherlands | 3 | 4% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 69 | 91% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 15 | 20% |
Researcher | 12 | 16% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 13% |
Student > Bachelor | 10 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 8% |
Other | 13 | 17% |
Unknown | 10 | 13% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 22 | 29% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 9% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 6 | 8% |
Social Sciences | 6 | 8% |
Design | 4 | 5% |
Other | 16 | 21% |
Unknown | 15 | 20% |