A quasi-experimental investigation of message appeal variations on organ donor registration rates.
OBJECTIVE
Approximately 6,000 Americans die every year awaiting an organ transplant. Health promotion interventions may alleviate the shortage of viable organs by increasing the number of registered organ donors. This study is the first to evaluate the differential effectiveness of various organ donor messages in naturalistic settings.


METHODS
A 4 (Appeal)x4 (Exemplar)x4 (Location) counterbalanced quasi-experimental design was implemented.


METHODS
The behavioral outcome measure was the number of individuals who registered to be organ donors at computer kiosks.


RESULTS
A number of significant main effects and interactions emerged. Most notably, of the 4 different appeals (counterargument, emotional, motivating action, dissonance), counterargument was by far the most efficacious, especially in academic-type settings (library, university, community college); the emotional appeal was most successful in hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings from this study have implications for both organ donor investigations and health campaign research in general. Statistical interactions highlight the importance of evaluating multiple exemplars in multiple locations for each type of appeal when conducting health campaign research.
Siegel
Jason T
JT
School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. jason.siegel@cgu.edu
Alvaro
Eusebio M
EM
Crano
William D
WD
Lac
Andrew
A
Ting
Sarah
S
Jones
Sara Pace
SP
D000328:Adult; D003073:Cognitive Dissonance; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011908:Rationalization; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012931:Social Environment; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data