Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Telling Stories, Saving Lives: Creating Narrative Health Messages, Lauren B. Frank, Sheila T. Murphy, Joyee S. Chatterjee, Meghan B. Moran, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly, health communication practitioners are exploring the use of narrative storytelling to convey health information. For this study, a narrative film was produced to provide information about the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer prevention. The storyline centered on Lupita, a young woman recently diagnosed with HPV who informs her family about HPV and the availability of the HPV vaccine for her younger sister. The objective was to examine the roles of identification with characters and narrative involvement (made up of three dimensions: involvement, perceived relevance, and immersion) on perceived response efficacy, perceived severity, and perceived susceptibility to HPV and …