Muis Krista Renee, Sinatra Gale M, Pekrun Reinhard, Kendeou Panayiota, Mason Lucia, Jacobson Neil G., Van Tilburg Wijnand Adriaan Pieter, Orcutt Ellen, Zaccoletti Sonia, Losenno Kelsey M
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2022 Dec 1;13:1047241. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1047241. eCollection 2022.
Across four countries (Canada, USA, UK, and Italy), we explored the effects of persuasive messages on intended and actual preventive actions related to COVID-19, and the role of emotions as a potential mechanism for explaining these effects.
One thousand seventy-eight participants first reported their level of concern and emotions about COVID-19 and then received a positive persuasive text, negative persuasive text, or no text. After reading, participants reported their emotions about the pandemic and their willingness to take preventive action. One week following, the same participants reported the frequency with which they engaged in preventive action and behaviors that increased the risk of contracting COVID-19.
Results revealed that the positive persuasive text significantly increased individuals' willingness to and actual engagement in preventive action and reduced risky behaviors 1 week following the intervention compared to the control condition. Moreover, significant differences were found between the positive persuasive text condition and negative persuasive text condition whereby individuals who read the positive text were more willing and actually engaged in more preventive action compared to those who read the negative text. No differences were found, however, at the 1-week follow-up for social distancing and isolation behaviors. Results also revealed that specific discrete emotions mediated relations between the effects of the texts and preventive action (both willing and actual).
This research highlights the power of educational interventions to prompt behavioral change and has implications for pandemic-related interventions, government policy on health promotion messages, and future research.
我们在四个国家（加拿大、美国、英国和意大利）探讨了说服性信息对与新冠病毒相关的预期和实际预防行动的影响，以及情绪作为解释这些影响的潜在机制的作用。
1078名参与者首先报告了他们对新冠病毒的担忧程度和情绪，然后收到一条积极的说服性文本、一条消极的说服性文本或无文本。阅读后，参与者报告了他们对疫情的情绪以及采取预防行动的意愿。一周后，相同的参与者报告了他们采取预防行动的频率以及从事增加感染新冠病毒风险行为的频率。
结果显示，与对照条件相比，积极的说服性文本显著提高了个体采取预防行动的意愿和实际参与度，并在干预后1周减少了危险行为。此外，在积极的说服性文本条件和消极的说服性文本条件之间发现了显著差异，即与阅读消极文本的人相比，阅读积极文本的人更愿意且实际采取了更多的预防行动。然而，在1周随访时，社交距离和隔离行为方面未发现差异。结果还显示，特定的离散情绪介导了文本效果与预防行动（意愿和实际）之间的关系。
本研究突出了教育干预促使行为改变的力量，并对与疫情相关的干预、政府关于健康促进信息的政策以及未来研究具有启示意义。
