Exploring message framing to engage parents in early screening for autism spectrum disorder

With the average age of diagnosis of autism hovering between 4 and 5 years of age, many children do not receive critical early intervention. Health information messages may be useful for increasing parents' understanding of the importance of early autism screening.

Messages promoting autism screening were presented to 282 parents in a 2 (message frame: gain, loss) x 3 (evidence type: narrative, statistical, and hybrid), online, between-participants factorial design. Participants' involvement, affective responses, perceived threat to behavioral freedom, attitudes, and intentions to discuss screening with a healthcare provider were analyzed.

Loss-framed messages that included a hybrid of first-person narrative and statistical evidence were related to favorable ratings for most outcomes. Levels of perceived threat to behavioral freedom partially mediated involvement and attitudes, in a negative direction, for loss-framed narrative messages.

Results of this preliminary study supported the inclusion of both evidence types in messages developed to encourage parents to engage in early screening for autism, and partially supported focusing these messages on the potential costs of not screening.

Effective use of messaging with parents could help to increase knowledge and facilitate shared decision-making with health care providers to engage in early screening for autism.