Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Mar 22, 2022
Date Accepted: Jun 21, 2022
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Maximizing Message Effectiveness: Developing the Message Assessment Scale for Testing Messages of Health Behavior Campaigns
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mass media campaigns are effective in influencing a broad range of health behaviors. Prior to launching a campaign, developers often conduct ad testing to help identify strengths and weaknesses of the message executions among the campaign’s target audience. Endorsement of a six-item perceived message effectiveness (PME) measure is one approach commonly used for message selection; however, this scale often does not produce enough specificity to make important decisions on ad optimization and is typically used with adult populations for smoking cessation messages.
Objective:
This study includes the development of the Message Assessment Scale, a new tobacco prevention message testing scale for youth and young adults.
Methods:
Data were derived from numerous cross-sectional surveys designed to test the relevance and potential efficacy of anti-tobacco truth® campaign ads. Participants aged 15-24 (N=6,108) responded to a set of 12 core attitudinal items including relevance (both personal and cultural) as well as comprehension of the ad’s main message.
Results:
Data analysis included factor analyses which resulted in four scales. The four scales were significantly correlated with fact recall and vape intentions.
Conclusions:
This set of items expands the portfolio of ad testing measures for ads focused on tobacco use prevention. Findings can inform how best to optimize ad executions and message delivery for health behavior campaigns, particularly those focused on tobacco use prevention among youth and young adult populations.
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Copyright
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