‘Vaccine narrative effectiveness’ by senior research fellow Fuyuan Shen

November 14, 2022 • Fuyuan Shen

A published research paper I co-authored with some collaborators from the Bellisario College examined the effects of conversion narratives on attitudes and behavioral intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The study was conducted in January 2021, before the vaccine became widely available to the general public. It was also a time when many were unsure about the vaccine’s benefits and efficacy. However, we reviewed literature and quickly realized that conversion narratives had the potential to be an effective message strategy in convincing individuals about the benefits of the vaccine.

Unlike other narratives, conversion narratives are often two-sided and refutational in nature. In other words, such messages often acknowledge people’s concerns, real or unfounded, and then refute them from the perspective of a protagonist who has gone through process of conversion from skeptic to believer of the vaccine’s efficacy. Acknowledging the opposing arguments can elevate perceptions of honesty and credibility toward the speaker, thus increasing the message’s effectiveness.

Prior studies examining two-sided messages also suggested that congruence between the perceived psychological state of the protagonist toward the issue, including the protagonist’s initial misgivings about COVID-19 vaccinations, and participants’ own cognitions, is typically required for messages to increase persuasion.

To test their hypotheses, the team conducted an online experiment that compared the effects of two-sided conversion narratives versus one-sided advocacy messages on participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions to want to get vaccinated before vaccines became available.

Results demonstrated that, for vaccine-hesitant participants, conversion messages increased pro-COVID-19 vaccination attitudes and behavioral intentions. For high vaccine-hesitant participants, the relationship between conversion messages and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinations was mediated through source credibility. For low vaccine-hesitant participants, mediation occurred through counterarguing.

The study also used multiple versions of message stimuli suggesting that the observed effects generalized across different messages in this context within the sample. Findings from the research carry important implications for the development of more tailored health messages related to not only COVID-19 vaccine but also other health prevention and promotion issues. 

The study was recently published by Health Communication, a top journal in the field. The lead author is Jeff Conlin, assistant professor at the University of Kansas. Other co-authors include Bellisario faculty members Michelle Baker and Heather Shoenberger as well as Bingbing Zhang, a current Ph.D. student.