Influenza Vaccination: The Persuasiveness of Messages Among People Aged 65 Years and Older

Abstract

About 90% of all influenza-related deaths occur among people aged 65 years and older. Vaccination remains the primary option for preventing influenza infection. This study examined the efficacy of messages designed to increase the uptake of influenza vaccination. Two messages, narrative and didactic, were created based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM). The study employed a one-factor between-subjects experimental design with participants assigned randomly to three conditions: no message, didactic communication, and narrative communication. Participants were 311 Italian people aged 65 years or older. The results showed that, compared to no message and didactic communication, narrative communication was related to higher risk perception of influenza, to higher perception of the efficacy of the vaccine, and to self-efficacy related to vaccination, controlling for social trust, previous flu shot, and demographic variables. There were no differences among the three conditions with respect to the intention to receive the influenza vaccine. Findings suggest that narrative communication based on EPPM may have a persuasive effect on people aged 65 years or older.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research is part of a wider project on environmental risk perceptions and is supported by a grant from the Italian Ministry of Health, Prot. n. 417/2009, 30.04.2009. We thank Bruna Porretta for her help with the study and the pretest.

Notes

¹More information about pretesting is available from the corresponding author.