ABSTRACT

Obesity and diabetes are widespread health conditions with rising prevalence rates in the United States. News stories and health campaign messages frequently feature prevalence rates of obesity and diabetes, at times under the expectation that such messages will increase readers’ disease awareness, health behaviors, and policy support. At the same time, American adults overestimate the prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the absence of prevalence information, raising important questions about the implications of communicating accurate prevalence information that may be lower than baseline estimates. The current study examines the effects of communicating information about the prevalence of obesity and diabetes, varying the format of this information (using qualitative terms, raw frequencies, or percentages). Results from two pre-registered, web-based randomized experiments suggest that only prevalence statistics in percentage formats shift readers’ prevalence estimates, though in some percentage formats these estimates were lower than observed in a no-message control group. Prevalence estimates, in turn, were positively associated with perceived social causes of obesity/diabetes, intensions for healthy behaviors, and support for policy-level solutions. These findings offer guidance for health communication campaigns that seek to increase healthy behavior and support for policies to address health conditions.

摘要

肥胖和糖尿病是普遍的健康状况，在美国的患病率不断上升。新闻报道和健康运动信息经常以肥胖和糖尿病的患病率为特色，有时期望这些信息会提高读者的疾病意识、健康行为和政策支持。与此同时，美国成年人在缺乏患病率信息的情况下高估了肥胖和糖尿病的患病率，这引发了有关传达可能低于基线估计的准确患病率信息的影响的重要问题。目前的研究检查了传达有关肥胖和糖尿病患病率的信息的影响，改变了这些信息的格式（使用定性术语、原始频率或百分比）。两个预注册的结果，基于网络的随机实验表明，只有百分比格式的流行率统计数据才能改变读者的流行率估计，尽管在某些百分比格式中，这些估计值低于在无消息对照组中观察到的。反过来，患病率估计与肥胖/糖尿病的社会原因、健康行为的意愿以及对政策层面解决方案的支持呈正相关。这些发现为寻求增加健康行为和支持解决健康状况的政策的健康宣传活动提供了指导。与肥胖/糖尿病的社会原因、健康行为的意愿以及对政策层面解决方案的支持呈正相关。这些发现为寻求增加健康行为和支持解决健康状况的政策的健康宣传活动提供了指导。与肥胖/糖尿病的社会原因、健康行为的意愿以及对政策层面解决方案的支持呈正相关。这些发现为寻求增加健康行为和支持解决健康状况的政策的健康宣传活动提供了指导。