Sarah E. Gollust is with the Division of Health Policy and Management, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis. Jeff Niederdeppe is with the Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Colleen L. Barry is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
Am J Public Health. 2013 Nov;103(11):e96-102. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301271. Epub 2013 Sep 12.
We examined the effects of messages describing consequences of childhood obesity on public attitudes about obesity prevention policy.
We collected data from 2 nationally representative Internet-based surveys. First, respondents (n = 444) evaluated the strength of 11 messages about obesity's consequences as reasons for government action. Second, we randomly assigned respondents (n = 2494) to a control group or to treatment groups shown messages about obesity consequences. We compared groups' attitudes toward obesity prevention, stratified by political ideology.
Respondents perceived a message about the health consequences of childhood obesity as the strongest rationale for government action; messages about military readiness, bullying, and health care costs were rated particularly strong by conservatives, moderates, and liberals, respectively. A message identifying the consequences of obesity on military readiness increased conservatives' perceptions of seriousness, endorsement of responsibility beyond the individual, and policy support, compared with a control condition.
The public considers several consequences of childhood obesity as strong justification for obesity prevention policy. Activating new or unexpected values in framing a health message could raise the health issue's salience for particular subgroups of the public.
我们考察了描述儿童肥胖后果的信息对公众对肥胖预防政策的看法的影响。
我们从两个具有全国代表性的基于互联网的调查中收集了数据。首先，受访者（n=444）评估了 11 条关于肥胖后果的信息作为政府采取行动的理由的力度。其次，我们将受访者（n=2494）随机分配到对照组或显示肥胖后果信息的治疗组。我们按政治意识形态对肥胖预防的态度进行了分层比较。
受访者认为儿童肥胖的健康后果信息是政府采取行动的最强理由；关于军事准备、欺凌和医疗保健费用的信息分别被保守派、温和派和自由派认为是特别有力的信息。与对照组相比，一条确定肥胖对军事准备的后果的信息增加了保守派对严重性、超越个人的责任和政策支持的看法。
公众认为儿童肥胖的几个后果是肥胖预防政策的强有力的理由。在构建健康信息时激活新的或意想不到的价值观可以提高特定公众群体对健康问题的关注度。
