Developing health messages for promoting health behavior

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between message framing type and psychological traits in university students participants were (N=251.170 men and 81 women). First, we developed the Health Promotion/Prevention Focus Scale (HPPFS). Factor analysis indicated that the HPPFS consisted of six items and had a two-factor structure: (1) “Health promotion orientation.” and (2) “Disease prevention orientation.” The scale also had good reliability and validity. Next, we explored differences in the effect of messages according to the type of message framing and psychological traits. The results of an ANOVA indicated that usability scores of exercise behaviors were significantly higher in loss-framed messages,whereas acceptability scores of eating behaviors were higher in gain-framed messages. Also, there were no effects of the message on either exercise or eating behaviors of participants with low scores for Health promotion orientation or Disease prevention orientation factors.