Protecting Children from Myopia: A PMT Perspective for Improving Health Marketing Communications

Abstract

This research examined the predictive utility of the protection motivation theory (PMT) model for myopia prevention amongst children. An integrative model for myopia prevention behavior of parents was first developed in the context of theory and survey instruments then refined using information gathered from two focus groups. Empirical data then was collected from parents of primary school children in Singapore, a country with one of the highest rates of myopia in the world, and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our findings revealed that coping appraisal variables were more significantly associated with protection motivation, relative to threat appraisal variables. In particular, perceived self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of parental intention to enforce good visual health behaviors, while perceived severity was relatively weak. Health marketing communications and public policy implications are discussed.

The authors would like to thank the Journal of Health Communication editor, the editorial staff and the anonymous reviewers for their guidence. We also acknowledge the research assistance of Ms. Michelle Lim, who was an undergraduate at NUS at the time of research.

Notes

∗Loadings are set as 1.0 to fix construct variance

(Significance measured at a confidence interval of 95%).