University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2023 Apr;50(2):224-233. doi: 10.1177/10901981221110832. Epub 2022 Jul 21.
Exposure to conflicting health information can produce negative affective and cognitive responses, including confusion and backlash, and the effects of this exposure can even "carry over" and reduce people's receptivity to subsequent messages about health behaviors for which there is scientific consensus. What is not known is whether certain population subgroups are more vulnerable to such carryover effects.
This study investigates whether carryover effects of exposure to conflicting information are moderated by two factors, trust in news media and research literacy, testing the hypothesis that lower trust and higher literacy could protect against such effects.
The analysis draws on data from a longitudinal population-based experiment ( = 2,716), in which participants were randomly assigned to view health news stories and social media posts that either did or did not feature conflicting information, and subsequently exposed to ads from existing health campaigns about behaviors for which there is scientific consensus. Structural equation modeling was used to test study hypotheses.
Neither lower trust in news media nor higher research literacy protected against carryover effects, as effects were observed across levels of both trust and literacy. Although level of research literacy did not affect whether carryover effects were observed, it did shape how those effects emerged.
The public, regardless of their level of trust in news media or research literacy, is vulnerable to the downstream effects of exposure to conflicting health information. Targeted health communication interventions are needed to improve messaging about evolving science and, in turn, increase receptivity to public health recommendations.
接触相互矛盾的健康信息可能会产生负面的情感和认知反应，包括困惑和抵触，而这种接触的影响甚至可能“延续”并降低人们对后续关于具有科学共识的健康行为的信息的接受度。目前尚不清楚某些人群是否更容易受到这种延续效应的影响。
本研究通过测试信任新闻媒体和研究素养这两个因素是否可以调节接触冲突信息后的延续效应的假设，来探究接触冲突信息后的延续效应是否存在群体差异。假设是低信任和高素养可以预防这种影响。
该分析基于一项纵向的基于人群的实验（n=2716）的数据，参与者被随机分配观看是否包含冲突信息的健康新闻报道和社交媒体帖子，然后接触关于具有科学共识的行为的现有健康运动的广告。结构方程模型用于检验研究假设。
无论是新闻媒体信任度较低还是研究素养较高，都无法预防延续效应，因为在信任度和素养的各个水平上都观察到了效应。尽管研究素养的水平并不影响是否观察到延续效应，但它确实影响了这些效应的出现方式。
公众，无论其对新闻媒体的信任度或研究素养水平如何，都容易受到接触相互矛盾的健康信息的后续影响。需要有针对性的健康传播干预措施来改善有关不断发展的科学的信息传递，从而提高对公共卫生建议的接受度。
