Using message framing to motivate HIV testing among low-income, ethnic minority women.
This study compared the effectiveness of 4 videotaped educational programs designed to motivate HIV testing among low-income, ethnic minority women. Four hundred eighty women were assigned randomly to watch one of 2 gain-framed or 2 loss-framed videos. Consistent with prospect theory, participants' perceptions of the certainty of the outcome of an HIV test moderated the effects of framing on self-reported testing behavior 6 months after video exposure. Among participants who reported being certain of the test's outcome, those who saw a gain-framed video reported a higher rate of testing than those who saw a loss-framed message. Among women who perceived the outcome of HIV testing as relatively uncertain, gain- and loss-framed videos led to similar rates of self-reported testing, with some advantage for the loss-framed message.
Apanovitch
Anne Marie
AM
Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8205, USA.
McCarthy
Danielle
D
Salovey
Peter
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011203:Poverty; D011379:Prognosis; D014741:Video Recording; D016387:Women's Health