Telling Global Public Health Stories: Narrative Message Design for Issues Management

• In Event: Health Messages, Framing, and Public Behavior

Abstract

In consultation with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Global Health (CDC CGH), we compared narrative and non-narrative message design for global public health initiative issues management. A multiple-message experimental design prompted participants (N = 669) to read a message about a CDC CGH initiative, and measured perceptions of agency reputation, support for a global public health mission, and intentions to share information. The narrative message design had indirect effects on the outcomes though perceptions of message features (i.e., story structure, understanding, personal relevance, information overload) and transportation, and narrative messages were more likely to be shared interpersonally and through social media. The study contributes to theory and practice by confirming the mediating role of transportation in the effects of narrative, building on a message features approach to the study of narrative persuasion, and speaking to the challenges of issues management in global public health.

Authors

• Joshua B. Barbour, Texas A&M U

• Marissa Joanna Doshi, Hope College

• Leandra Hinojosa Hernandez, Texas A&M U