Effects of narratives, frames, and involvement on health message effectiveness

Abstract

An online 2 (evidence type: narrative vs. informational) × 2 (message frame: gain vs. loss) × 2 (involvement: low vs. high) between-subjects factorial experiment was conducted to examine their effects in skin cancer awareness campaigns. Results showed that loss-framed narratives were convincing for high-involved individuals, whereas both gain-framed informational and loss-framed narratives evoked higher issue attitudes and behavioral intentions for low-involved ones. Mediation analyses showed that identification with the story protagonist mediated narrative effects on the outcome variables. Theoretical and practical implications for sun protection awareness campaigns are discussed.

Keywords:

• Narratives
• framing
• involvement
• health
• skin cancer

Notes

1 Since no statistically significant differences were detected in the means between the visual and non-visual messages across the dependent variables, these two conditions were combined in our analyses in the present paper.