title: Theorizing Foreshadowed Death Narratives: Examining the Impact of Character Death on Narrative Processing and Skin Self-Exam Intentions.
abstract: Narratives are common in health campaigns and interventions, with many depicting individuals battling a particular illness or disease. Past research has focused primarily on the form and effects of survivor stories, but considerably less attention has been devoted to stories in which 1 or more of the central characters passes away. The goal of the current study was to compare the relative persuasive impact of survivor and death narratives in influencing skin prevention behaviors and to test narrative mediators that might explicate underlying mechanisms of effect. To that end, adults (N = 635, M age = 32.43 [SD = 11.23]) were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 narrative intervention conditions in an online message experiment. Participants read 1 of 2 stories about a person with melanoma (Rusty or Diane) that was manipulated as a narrative depicting the survival, death, or foreshadowed death of the main character. Foreshadowed death narratives increased intentions to perform a skin self-exam (SSE), a relationship that was mediated by narrative transportation and perceived SSE benefits. The results support the central postulate of narrative transportation theory and the utility of using foreshadowed death narratives in communication-based interventions designed to increase SSE frequency.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication , University of Utah , Salt Lake City , Utah , USA.
authors.forename: Jakob D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: b Satish and Yasmin Gupta College of Business , University of Dallas , Dallas , Texas , USA.
authors.forename: Robert N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Yale
authors.affiliation: c National Cancer Institute , Bethesda , Maryland , USA.
authors.forename: Melinda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krakow
authors.affiliation: d School of Communication , Brigham Young University , Provo , Utah , USA.
authors.forename: Kevin K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: John
authors.affiliation: e Department of Public Relations , Texas Tech University , Lubbock , Texas , USA.
authors.forename: Andy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D033262:Narration; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D016353:Self-Examination / Q000523:psychology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult