The Effects of Animations and Multimedia Messages on Public Engagement in Precision Medicine: Assessment of Moderation and Mediation

Abstract

Public participation in precision medicine (PM) research is essential to achieving effective health care but has been impeded by a lack of awareness and basic knowledge. There is a critical need for educational materials that can clearly explain PM to foster involvement. This randomized controlled trial with a posttest-only control group design aims to assess the effects of educational messages delivered through animations relative to live-action videos and leaflets on intentions of involvement in PM research. Knowledge as the moderator and four mediators (engagement, vividness, trustworthiness, and cognitive value) of the intended effects were also evaluated. A total of 326 U.S. adults were sampled from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Among participants with less knowledge about PM, animations produced stronger information-seeking intentions and willingness to participate than leaflets. The effects of three message modalities were not significantly different among average and highly knowledgeable participants. Engagement and vividness mediated the effects of animations relative to two other message modalities. Trustworthiness and cognitive value mediated the effects of animations relative to live-action videos. Overall, animations can be an effective communication strategy to motivate involvement in PM but its effectiveness could decline as knowledge increases. The explanations and implications of the findings were discussed.