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Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care

Published on: February 16, 2011

Using narratives to correct politically charged health misinformation and address affective belief echoes

Helen M Lillie¹, Chelsea L Ratcliff², Andy J King³

¹Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.

Journal of Public Health (Oxford, England)

|April 18, 2024

Abstract

Background:

In May 2020, news outlets reported misinformation about the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) related to COVID-19. Correcting misinformation about outbreaks and politics is particularly challenging. Affective belief echoes continue to influence audiences even after successful correction. Narrative and emotional flow scholarship suggest that a narrative corrective with a positive ending could reduce belief echoes. Therefore, this study investigated the efficacy of a narrative corrective with a relief ending for correcting misinformation about the CDC.

Methods:

Between 29 May and 4 June 2020, we tested the effectiveness of a narrative to correct this misinformation. Participants in the United States (N = 469) were enrolled via Qualtrics panels in an online message experiment and randomized to receive a narrative corrective, a didactic corrective or no corrective.

Results:

The narrative corrective resulted in lower endorsement of the misinformation compared with the control and the didactic corrective. The narrative corrective had a positive indirect effect on perceived CDC competence and mask wearing intentions for politically moderate and conservative participants via relief.

Conclusions:

Public health institutions, such as the CDC, should consider utilizing narrative messaging with positive emotion endings to correct misinformation. Narratives better address affective belief echoes, particularly for counter-attitudinal audiences.

Keywords:

COVID-19 misinformation narrative political ideology relief

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