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Testing for Dose-Response Relationships in Health Messaging: Dosage, Framing, and Intentions to Exercise
Helen M Lillie1, Alexis S Vega2, Yi Liao2
1Department of Communication Studies, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Abstract:
Determining the ideal dosage to maximize benefits and minimize side effects is a vital component of treatment. Yet, dosage has received limited attention in health communication. Existing scholarship suggests that gain and loss frames may require different dosage levels. The current research tested this supposition in a 3 (dose amount: 1, 2, or 3) × 2 (message frame: gain/loss) message experiment (N = 1007), operationalizing a dose as two bullet points detailing the benefits of exercise. The three-dose message yielded greater exercise intentions compared to the two-dose message. A gain-framed, three-dose message generated the highest perceived benefits of exercise. Dose had a positive, indirect effect on exercise intentions via greater perceived benefits and greater perceived dose. These findings underscore the pressing need to further theorize dosage in health communication scholarship.
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