Health communication through media narratives: factors, processes, and effects - introduction

Narrative health communication is a form of persuasive communication in which a health message is presented in the form of a fictional or nonfictional story, as opposed to being presented as statistical evidence or arguments to promote health-related behaviors. Recently, meta-analyses have been conducted on the effectiveness of narrative health communication; however, systematic research is still needed to further the understanding of the mechanics underlying the effects of health narratives. Addressing this gap, this Special Section provides a synthesis of knowledge and direction in the field of narrative health communication, bringing together 10 original research articles. The reported studies investigate experiences mediating the effect of narratives on health outcomes, as well as the role of moderating factors, such as cultural background, form, content, and context-related features. All 10 studies reported here have important implications for the theory of narrative processing and effects, and they are instrumental to the practice of designing effective health communication messages

The Emotional Effects of Science Narratives: A Theoretical Framework

Stories have long been discussed as a tool to make science accessible to the public. The potential of stories to stimulate emotions in their audiences makes them an emotional communication strategy par excellence. While studies exist that test the effects of stories in science communication on the one hand and the effects of emotions on the other hand, there is no systematic elaboration of the mechanisms through which stories in science communication evoke emotions and how these emotions influence outcomes such as knowledge gain and attitude change. In this article, we develop a theoretical framework of the “Emotional Effects of Science Narratives” (EESN-Model), which includes a typology of emotions likely to arise from reading science communication as well as mechanisms for each of the emotions to evoke the (desired) outcomes. The model serves as a heuristic to delineate the emotional effects of narratives in science coverage and will help guide research in this domain to provide a deeper understanding of the role of emotion in science news

Covid-19 Research in Alternative News Media: Evidencing and Counterevidencing Practices

The Covid-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an excess of accurate and inaccurate information (infodemic) that has prevented people from finding reliable guidance in decision-making. Non-professional but popular science communicators—some with a political agenda—supply the public with scientific knowledge regarding Covid-19. This kind of communication represents a worrisome force in societal discourses on science-related political issues. This article explores online content (N = 108 articles) of two popular German “alternative news” media (NachDenkSeiten and PI News) that present and evaluate biomedical research concerning Covid-19. Using thematic analysis, we investigated how scientific evidence was presented and questioned. Regarding the theoretical background, we drew on the concept of “evidencing practices” and ideas from argumentation theory. More specifically, we studied the use of the following three evidencing and counterevidencing practices: references to Data/Methods, references to Experts/Authorities, and Narratives. The results indicate that the studied alternative news media generally purport to report on science using the same argumentation mechanisms as those employed in science journalism in legacy media. However, a deeper analysis reveals that argumentation directions mostly follow preexisting ideologies and political agendas against Covid-19 policies, which leads to science coverage that contradicts common epistemic authorities and evidence. Finally, we discuss the possible implications of our findings for audience views and consider strategies for countering the rejection of scientific evidence

Evidence-based health information about pulmonary embolism: assessing the quality, usability and readability of online and offline patient information

Objective Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common cardiovascular disease worldwide. However, public awareness is considerably lower than for myocardial infarction or stroke. Patients suffering from PE complain about the lack of (understandable) information and express high informational needs. To uncover if reliable information is indeed scarce, this study evaluates the quantity and quality of existing patient information for tertiary prevention using an evidence-based health information paradigm. Methods We conducted a quantitative content analysis (n = 21 patient information brochures; n = 67 websites) evaluating content categories addressed, methodical quality, usability, and readability. Results Results show that there is not enough patient information material focusing on PE as a main topic. Existing patient information material is mostly incomplete, difficult to understand, and low in actionability as well as readability. Conclusion Our systematic analysis reveals the need for more high-quality patient information on PE as part of effective tertiary prevention. Innovation This is the first review analyzing content, methodical quality, readability, and usability of patient information on PE. The findings of this analysis are guiding the development of an innovative, evidence-based patient information on PE aiming to support patients’ informational needs and their self-care behavior

Introduction

UID/SOC/04647/2013publishersversionpublishe

Die Wirkung von egoistischem, altruistischem und biosphärischem Framing der Plastikverschmutzung in der Umweltkommunikation

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wirkung von Value-Based-Framing (egoistisch, altruistisch und biosphärisch) im Kontext einer Poster-Kampagne zum Thema Plastikverschmutzung. Die Norm-Activation Theory (Schwartz, 1977) dient als theoretischer Hintergrund zur Beschreibung des umweltrelevanten Verhaltensbildungsprozesses. Nach Schwartz' Theorie (1992; 1994) werden die verschiedenen Arten des Value-Based-Framings - egoistisches, altruistisches und biosphärisches Framing - miteinander verglichen und mit einer Version ohne Value-Based-Framing in der Wirkung auf den umweltbezogenen Verhaltensbildungsprozess analysiert. Zusätzlich wird die Relevanz einer Übereinstimmung des Werteframings und der bestehenden Wertorientierung der Rezipierenden untersucht. Die Studie zeigt, dass sich altruistisches Framing, verglichen mit einer Kommunikation ohne Werteframing, signifikant auf den umweltrelevanten Verhaltensbildungsprozess auswirkt: Die Wirkung des altruistischen Framings verglichen zu keinem Einsatz von Value-Based-Framing auf den Verhaltensbildungsprozess zeigt sich für alle Personen, unabhängig von bestehender Wertorientierung. Biosphärisches und altruistisches Framing zeigen sich hier als nicht relevant in der Wirkung auf den Verhaltensbildungsprozess. Die Ergebnisse sind konsistent mit den theoretischen Annahmen von Schwartz (1992; 1994) und werden in diesem Zusammenhang diskutiert. Nicht signifikante Ergebnisse werden auch in Bezug auf eine geringe Effektstärke diskutiert..

Health literacy in patients with pulmonary embolism: development and validation of the HeLP (Health Literacy in Pulmonary Embolism)-Questionnaire

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common cardiovascular disease and health literacy is necessary to deal with its consequences after the acute event. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a new questionnaire to measure PE-specific health literacy. Methods: A mixed-methods design with qualitative and quantitative elements was used in the development process. A literature review about health literacy concepts and instruments and interviews with patients with PE and clinicians were conducted. Quantitative analyses included factor analyses, item response theory with a graded partial credit model, and reliability analyses in different test and validation samples. Furthermore, convergent and known-groups validity and responsiveness were assessed. Results: The qualitative results supported a concept of PE-related health literacy with four main topics: dealing with PE-related health information, disease management, health-related selfcare, and social support. An initial item pool of 91 items was developed. Further interviews and an online survey with patients with PE (n = 1,013) were used to reduce the number of items and to confirm structural validity. Confirmatory factor analyses in the final evaluation study with patients with PE (n = 238) indicated a good model fit of the four-factor structure. The Health Literacy in Pulmonary Embolism (HeLP)-Questionnaire showed good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.82 to 0.90). All four subscales were responsive toward receiving a brochure with PE-related health information. Conclusion: The newly developed German HeLP Questionnaire comprises 23 items in four domains and showed good psychometric properties. Further evaluation of the questionnaire in different samples of patients with PE is needed