Abstract
Handwashing has been widely recommended to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Despite this, handwashing behavior remains low in the general public. Social marketing has been employed as a successful health promotion strategy for changing many health behaviors in the past. The present study examines if message framing influences the effectiveness of a handwashing health promotion messages at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a between-subjects cross-sectional experiment, participants (N = 344) in the United States were randomly assigned to view one of four handwashing messages or a control message before completing self-report measures of attitudes, emotions, readiness to change, and behavioral intentions around handwashing. Simple handwashing messages were presented with different framings, including a simple exchange message, a gain message, a social norm appeal, and a guilt appeal. Results revealed that message type influenced handwashing behavioral intentions and emotions. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that the simple exchange message produced significantly higher intentions than other messages and that only the simple exchange message significantly differed from the control message on emotions regarding handwashing. Mediational analyses showed handwashing emotions fully mediated the relationship between messaging and handwashing intentions. This mediation effect was moderated by age, such that it occurred for the younger and middle age participants, but not older participants. These results suggest that even simple, brief, and easily conveyable messages can positively impact behavioral intentions around handwashing during the early stages of a health crisis. Consistent with recent research comparing affective and cognitive pathways for health behavior, the mediational analysis suggests that effect of the simple exchange message on intentions was due to increased positive emotions around handwashing.
Highlights
The Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has undeniably affected life in the United States and around the world
Post-hoc comparisons revealed that only the exchange message significantly differed from the control message on emotions regarding handwashing (e.g., “I am proud of washing my hands”)
Additional studies may benefit from increased sample sizes to improve generalizability. These findings have implications for health messaging during public health emergencies. These results suggest that even simple, brief, and conveyable messages are able to positively impact behavioral intentions around handwashing during the early stages of a health crisis
Summary
The Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has undeniably affected life in the United States and around the world. The United States has disproportionately high rates of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19; despite having only 4% of the world’s population, as of July 2020 the United States is responsible for 25% of the world’s COVID-19 cases [1]. This prevalence of COVID-19 and the concerted efforts to educate the public on its prevention has affected public awareness of preventive health behaviors, including handwashing [2]. Handwashing is a frequently recommended way of preventing disease and reducing the spread of illness and has been touted as a way to prevent spreading COVID-19. While data related to handwashing and COVID-19 is still emerging, at least one 2020 study shows a correlation between interest in handwashing, as measured by Google searches, and reduced COVID-19 spread [9]
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