Psychological reactance theory is a commonly relied upon framework for understanding audience members' resistance to persuasive health messages. This review article provides an overview of reactance research in the context of persuasive health communication. The article begins with an overview of psychological reactance theory. The major concepts of the theory are discussed, as well as recent developments by communication researchers in measuring reactance. Following this, contemporary reactance research in the context of persuasive health communication is summarized. An emphasis is placed on research examining message features associated with reactance, as well as the moderating role of trait reactance. The article concludes with a discussion of several promising directions for future research.

The value of point-of-decision survey data are discussed in relation to strategic efforts to promote organ donor registration.

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This investigation sought to advance the extended parallel process model in important ways by testing associations among the strengths of efficacy and threat appeals with fear as well as two outcomes of fear-control processing, psychological reactance and message minimization. Within the context of print ads admonishing against noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the fictitious Trepidosis virus, partial support was found for the additive model with no support for the multiplicative model. High efficacy appeals mitigated freedom threat perceptions across both contexts. Fear was positively associated with both freedom threat perceptions within the NIHL context and favorable attitudes for both NIHL and Trepidosis virus contexts. In line with psychological reactance theory, a freedom threat was positively associated with psychological reactance. Reactance, in turn, was positively associated with message minimization. The models supported reactance preceding message minimization across both message contexts. Both the theoretical and practical implications are discussed with an emphasis on future research opportunities within the fear-appeal literature.

Use of point-of-decision materials and enrollment cards proved inexpensive method to register customers with a 3.6% return rate. Customers report low (27%) enrollment rate and reticence to consent to donation. Educational training sessions with representatives did not yield significant enrollment increases when evaluating data at county-level enrollment.