The Use of Narrative in Science and Health Communication: A Scoping Review

Dudley, Matthew Z.; Squires, G.; Petroske, Tracy M.; Dawson, Sandra; Brewer, Janesse

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2023.107752

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 218 publications

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“…Although these are only a few examples of information sought by parents based on lived experience, the power of stories for health communication has been long established. A scoping review by Dudley et al [39] found that narratives are appealing to audiences, stimulate emotions, make it easier to understand health and science information, improve the memory of information, and capture attention through suspense. Stories also "enable people to make sense of themselves, others, relationships, responsibilities, life changing circumstances, uncertainties, their social world, and possible futures" [40], all of which are heightened at emotionally vulnerable times such as when a child is unwell.…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Use of Social Media for Health Information Before and After a Consultation With Health Care Professionals: Australian Cross-Sectional Study

Frey,

Bonfiglioli,

Frawley

2023

JMIR Pediatr Parent

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Background Social media is a crucial source of health information for many parents due to its integration into modern life, raising critical concerns for public health. Parents use various social media platforms to find health information for their children, with most information created and shared by parents with no medical or health training. The extent to which parents seek health information from social media before and after a consultation and their motivations for doing so remain underresearched. Objective This study aimed to investigate Australian parents’ use of social media for health information for their children, aged between 6 months and 5 years, before and after consulting with health care professionals. Methods A representative cross-sectional survey of 1000 Australian parents with children aged 6 months to 5 years was conducted between November and December 2021. Data were cleaned and analyzed using IBM SPSS software. The primary outcomes were (1) parental motivation and prevalence of social media use for health information and (2) parental motivation for using social media before and after a consultation with their child’s health care professional. Results Of the 1000 parents surveyed, 82.2% (n=822) reported using social media for health information for their child. Parents were more likely to consult social media before and after a health consultation if they were aged 30-39 or ≥50 years and born in Australia. Parents with higher levels of education were less likely to consult social media. Parents were motivated to seek health information before a consultation for a variety of reasons, including exchanging opinions and experiences (639/767, 83.3%), having information that is available 24/7 (622/767, 81.1%), receiving emotional support (599/767, 78.1%), having previous positive experiences (597/767, 77.8%), and having friends and family that use social media for health information (577/767, 75.2%). Parents sought information after a consultation to connect with parents with similar experiences (546/794, 68.8%), seek a second opinion (505/794, 63.6%), fact-check information provided by their health care professional (483/794, 60.8%), and look for other treatment options (353/794, 44.5%). Conclusions Using social media for child health information is part of the modern parenting experience. It can be challenging to discern the quality of health information on social media, leaving parents open to incorrect information and misinformation. Although access to immediate social support is a welcomed feature of social media, receiving incorrect health information can have unwanted consequences for the child, family, health provider, and wider community. The upskilling of parental health literacy to navigate the unique health literacy challenges that social media brings, alongside the creation and delivery of accessible, evidence-based information in varying formats, is urgently required. The provision of this information is the responsibility of every level of the health system, not just the treating health care professional.

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Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Use of Social Media for Health Information Before and After a Consultation With Health Care Professionals: Australian Cross-Sectional Study

Frey,

Bonfiglioli,

Frawley

2023

JMIR Pediatr Parent

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“…Patient–provider race/ethnicity concordance—defined as the occurrence of matching patient race/ethnicity and provider race/ethnicity—has been associated with an increased likelihood of care-seeking and continued care-seeking behaviors ( 17 ), as well as better patient–provider communication ( 18 ). Moreover, in science communication, listeners have been found to delay or not develop counter-arguments when listening to peer/personal narratives ( 19 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of online videos to engage viewers and support decision-making for COVID-19 vaccination: how narratives and race/ethnicity enhance viewer experiences

Schuh,

Rimal,

Breiman

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundVaccine hesitancy has hampered the control of COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable diseases.MethodsWe conducted a national internet-based, quasi-experimental study to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine informational videos. Participants received an informational animated video paired with the randomized assignment of (1) a credible source (differing race/ethnicity) and (2) sequencing of a personal narrative before or after the video addressing their primary vaccine concern. We examined viewing time and asked video evaluation questions to those who viewed the full video.ResultsAmong 14,235 participants, 2,422 (17.0%) viewed the full video. Those who viewed a personal story first (concern video second) were 10 times more likely to view the full video (p < 0.01). Respondent–provider race/ethnicity congruence was associated with increased odds of viewing the full video (aOR: 1.89, p < 0.01). Most viewers rated the informational video(s) to be helpful, easy to understand, trustworthy, and likely to impact others' vaccine decisions, with differences by demographics and also vaccine intentions and concerns.ConclusionUsing peer-delivered, personal narrative, and/or racially congruent credible sources to introduce and deliver vaccine safety information may improve the openness of vaccine message recipients to messages and engagement.

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“…80 several theoretical approaches have been used for the development of these stories and to explain their success (Green et al, 2019). A recent scoping review revealed common success factors to be the use of first-person storytelling, fostering similarity and identification with the protagonist, and gathering input from the target audience to tailor the narratives effectively (Dudley et al, 2023). Other factors explaining the effect of narratives include that they reduce reactance and counterarguing in recipients, increase perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, and change perceived norms or outcome expectancies (Moyer-Gusé, 2008).…”

Section: Role Model Storiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It might however also reflect a personal preference for more informational texts instead of narrative-based texts. The scoping review by Dudley et al (2023) identified that combining narratives and informational messages is more effective than either strategy alone (Kim et al, 2012;Nan et al, 2022). To some extent, this is already the approach that Sense.info takes by offering both informative texts and narrative texts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most prominent similarity between recipient and protagonist would then be age and/or gender. Where such demographic variables might be important (Dudley et al, 2023), they might not suffice on their own for establishing a strong sense of identification (Cohen et al, 2018;Ooms et al, 2019). This underscores the significance of developing role model stories with diverse protagonists from various backgrounds and experiences, allowing a broader audience to identify with one or more of the protagonists.…”

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Cyclic evaluation of web-based public health interventions

Metz

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Qualitative research methods, in general, facilitate meaningful community engagement (Stutterheim & Ratcliffe, 2021). The qualitative methodology employed within the CEP is expected to similarly foster meaningful community engagement, constituting the fourth key characteristic of the CEP. From a utilitarian and functional perspective, involving the community (e.g., intervention users and intermediaries) is expected to enhance intervention effectiveness (Brunton et al., 2017). Viewed through a social justice lens, community engagement can support and empower individuals and communities, particularly when aligned with key values such as dignity and nonothering (Brunton et al., 2017;Stutterheim & Ratcliffe, 2021). Respectively, these values mean that the inherent worth and value of all participants is recognized at every stage of the research, and that the community is seen as similar to the researchers, approached from a common base of humanity, rather than seen as 'other ' (Levac et al., 2019;Shalowitz et al., 2009;Sprague et al., 2019).Community engagement can be seen as a continuum that moves from outreach efforts to consultation, followed by community involvement, then collaboration, and, finally, shared leadership and decision-making (Sprague et al., 2019). In the context of the CEP, the community of (representatives of the) end-users is involved both indirectly and directly. Indirect involvement occurs through the analysis of their use data in phase 2, leading to assumptions about the impact of the intervention on the community.Direct involvement takes place when end-user perceptions are explored in phase 3. These perspectives can guide the optimization in phase 4, where input of other end-users can once again be sought. Moreover, the various phases allow for input and shared decision-making by an established advisory board at critical juncturesboth at the beginning and end of each phase. This board could, for example, include representatives from the community, intervention developers or funders, as well as intermediary users.Case study: Evaluating and optimizing Sense.info with the CEP In this dissertation, the CEP was tested in the context of Sense.info, the primary platform for information and services related to sexual and reproductive health for individuals aged 12 to 25 in the Netherlands. Sense.info encompasses six main aims, which are familiarizing oneself with one's body, developing a sexual identity, experiencing sexual pleasure, and preventing boundary crossing, sexually transmitted Acyclic Behavior Change Diagrams: A tool to report and analyze interventionsThis chapter has been published as:

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The Use of Narrative in Science and Health Communication: A Scoping Review

Cited by 13 publications

References 218 publications

Parents’ Use of Social Media for Health Information Before and After a Consultation With Health Care Professionals: Australian Cross-Sectional Study

Parents’ Use of Social Media for Health Information Before and After a Consultation With Health Care Professionals: Australian Cross-Sectional Study

Evaluation of online videos to engage viewers and support decision-making for COVID-19 vaccination: how narratives and race/ethnicity enhance viewer experiences

Cyclic evaluation of web-based public health interventions

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