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Open Access 01-04-2019

To frame or not to frame? Effects of message framing and risk priming on mouth rinse use and intention in an adult population-based sample

Author: Gert-Jan de Bruijn

Published in: Journal of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 2/2019

Abstract

Good dental hygiene is key to public health. To promote dental hygiene behaviours, persuasive messages are key. Message framing is a popular theory that has seen mixed evidence. In this web-based experimental study, interaction effects of message frame, behavioural function, and risk priming were investigated on mouth rinse use and intentions in a representative sample of Dutch adults. Final included sample contained 549 participants (50.1% male, mean age = 47.4, SD = 16.1) and outcomes were immediate mouth rinse product choice, intentions to use mouth rinse, and mouth rinse behaviour at 2-week follow-up. Results demonstrated a theorized significant interaction between message frame and behavioural function were mouth rinse product choice. Two-week follow-up mouth rinse behaviour was affected by an interaction between message frame and risk prime. Message framing can thus be employed to promote dental health, but it requires attention to moderation effects which are inconsistent across behavioural outcomes.

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When compared with the total sample, participants who passed the manipulation check perceived the persuasive message more as intended (mean scores) and were homogeneous about their perception (smaller standard deviation), gain-framed: M = 2.1, SD = 0.6 versus M = 0.8, SD = 1.7; loss-framed M = − 1.9, SD = 0.6 M = 0.0, SD = 1.8.

Participants rated the message that portrayed mouth rinse as having a detection function equally credible, exaggerated, and ridiculous, as the message that portrayed it as a prevention function. This effect did not depend upon previous mouth rinse use, F < 1. (I thank two anonymous reviewers for bringing this up).

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Title: To frame or not to frame? Effects of message framing and risk priming on mouth rinse use and intention in an adult population-based sample
Author: Gert-Jan de Bruijn
Publication date: 01-04-2019
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 0160-7715
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3521
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-9972-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

To frame or not to frame? Effects of message framing and risk priming on mouth rinse use and intention in an adult population-based sample

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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