title: Delivering health information via podcast or web: media effects on psychosocial and physiological responses.
abstract: This study explored differences in psychosocial and physiological variables in response to being presented with information on weight loss through either reading text on a website or listening to the same information via podcast. Participants were randomized to receive a weight loss website (n = 20) or podcast (n = 20). Participants had skin conductance levels measured and completed questionnaire items assessing demographic characteristics, user control, novelty, and knowledge. Participants in the podcast group exhibited greater levels of physiological arousal and reported the intervention to be more novel than those in the Web group; however, the Web group reported greater user control. There was no difference in knowledge between the groups. This study presents the first step in examining the role that novelty and user control may play in two different weight-loss electronic media, as well as differences in knowledge acquisition. Future research should explore adding additional media features, such as video content, to the podcasts and websites in order to optimize fully the different mediums and to examine whether user control and novelty are potential mediators of weight loss outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, SC 29208, USA. brie@sc.edu
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turner-McGrievy
authors.forename: Sri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalyanaraman
authors.forename: Marci K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D011584:Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D057211:Webcasts as Topic; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult