Lecture 9: interpersonal health communication

Question 1

Interpersonal communication

Answer 1

= “exchange of messages between people…influenced by human
needs”

2 important elements
>Conversational occurrence: whether people talk about a topic
>Conversational valence: how negative or positive people talk about a
topic

Question 2

3 roles conversational occurrence (Southwell & Yzer, 2007)

Answer 2

Conversational occurrence can be:
>Outcome health campaign (dependent variable)

> Mediator campaign effects (explanatory mechanism)

> Moderator campaign effects (effect campaign depends on conversational occurrence)

Question 3

2 theories about that mass media messages

spread via interpersonal communication

Answer 3

> Two-step flow theory

>Diffusion of innovations theory

Question 4

Conversational valence

Answer 4

How positive or negative people talk about the health topic

or campaign

Question 5

Hendriks, Van den Putte, De Bruijn, & De Vreese (2014)

>Predicting health: The interplay between interpersonal communication and health campaigns

Answer 5

Effect conversational occurrence about alcohol on
intentions moderated by campaign exposure
>Negative effect alcohol conversation if not exposed to campaign

Question 6

Hendriks, De Bruijn, & Van den Putte (2012)
>Talking about alcohol consumption: Health campaigns,
conversational valence, and binge drinking intentions

Answer 6

> Exposure anti-alcohol campaign results in more negative conversations about alcohol
More negative alcohol conversation explains effect campaign on healthy intentions

> Shows the importance of conversational valence

> Stimulate ‘healthy’ conversations!
Negative about the unhealthy behavior
Positive about the healthy behavior

Question 7

Hendriks, Van den Putte, & De Bruijn (2014)
>Changing the conversation: The influence of emotions on
conversational valence and alcohol consumption

Answer 7

Feelings of fear result in more negative conversations about unhealthy behavior
>Disgust/humor did not influence valence
>This study: highest level of fear after disgust message
>Messages trigger different emotions!

> Fear influences conversational occurrence (previous research)+ valence (this research)!

> Negative conversational valence about unhealthy behavior,
positive effects on health-variables

Question 8

Overall Conclusion

Answer 8

Interpersonal communication about health influences determinants of health behavior
>Conversational occurrence
>Roles conversational occurrence
>Conversational valence
>Most important?

> Interplay between health campaigns and interpersonal communication

> We can influence conversational valence via message factor emotion