Effects of Goal-Framed Messages on Mental Health Education Among Medical University Students: Moderating Role of Personal Involvement

Abstract

Mental health problem among university students is an emerging public health issue, and mental health education has always been the focus of attention for universities. However, limited attention has been paid to the effect of students' acceptance of health messages. Previous studies have found that message framing plays a key role in the process of responding to health-promoting messages. In this backdrop, the study aimed to examine the effects of goal-framed messages on mental health education among medical university students and investigate the moderating role of personal involvement. A cross-sectional study was conducted on medical university students. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Wilcoxon rank-sum test and ordinal logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results showed significant differences in message acceptance between the gain-and loss-framed groups (p < 0.001). Participants with high personal involvement had higher message acceptance than those with low personal involvement in gain-and loss-framed message models (p < 0.05). Specifically, participants who related to roommates with high intimacy had higher message acceptance than those who related to roommates generally (p < 0.05). Participants who were concerned about their health condition had higher message acceptance than those who were neutral about their health condition (p < 0.001). Evidence of advantages of gain-over loss-framed messages on mental health among medical university students was found. The hypothesis that personal involvement with a health issue affects the acceptance of message framing was supported. Public health advocates can use framed message as a strategy to improve the efficacy of intervention in mental health education.

Framing Effects and Evidence Type: Influence on the Persuasive Effect of Myopia Prevention Messages Among Elementary School Students in China

“…No significant difference was found between the persuasive effect of gain-framed and loss-framed messages, but a significant difference was found between messages with non-statistical and statistical evidence, for example, when we describe that "the probability of suffering from myopia will greatly increase, " the persuasive effect of messages is better than "the probability of suffering from myopia will increase by 70%". The design of the questionnaire referred to previous studies (11,12) and relevant vision health management documents issued in China (13,14), and referred to previous studies on framed messages (15,16) when designing message framing materials. Different from some previous studies, in the present study we found that the framing effect did not affect the persuasive effect of the messages.…”

“…The framing effect is a reliable stimulus strategy first proposed by Tversky and Kahneman in 1981 (10) to improve the effectiveness of information transmission (11). Adopting appropriate frameworks in messages on specific topics can improve the acceptance of messages to the target population (12)(13)(14)(15). On the basis of prospect theory, goal-framing effects suggest that messages have different powers of persuasion depending on how these messages are framed (16).…”

Moderasi Norma Sosial dan Keterlibatan Personal terhadap Perilaku Peduli Lingkungan

“…Selanjutnya, keterlibatan personal tidak memiliki pengaruh dalam memoderasi norma sosial terhadap perilaku peduli lingkungan. Meskipun keterlibatan personal memiliki peran penting dalam memoderasi suatu perilaku yang diharapkan ketika menyusun pesan persuasif (Bai et al, 2018(Bai et al, , 2019. Sehingga dalam memberikan intervensi perubahan perilaku, perlu mencermati lebih dalam mengenai keterlibatan personal ketika ingin memberikan pesan persuasif.…”

COVID-19 Health Communication: Key Moderators of Message Framing

“…Message framing refers to «the persuasive strategy either to highlight benefits and rewards from compliance with the message advocacy or to emphasize the costs and punishments associated with non-compliance» (Shen & Kollar, 2015: 626). Message framing occupies a central position in health communication (e.g., Bai et al, 2019;Wansink & Pope, 2014) because health professionals and institutions aim to have patients/caregivers/the public comply with their messages for their personal benefit as well as for societal good. In the health domain, messages can be framed in two different forms, namely, gain-framed messages which highlight the benefits (gains) of adopting a particular healthy behaviour and loss-framed messages which emphasize the cost (losses) of not adopting a healthy behaviour (Rothman & Salovey, 1997).…”