Health communication via Line and Thai seniors: Impacts of content type and message framing on audiences’ responses

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the strategies of health messages sent to Thai senior citizens in LINE application, and to examine whether health message strategies (content type and message framing) sent via LINE directly influence Thai senior citizens’ responses. A mixed research method (content analysis and survey) was used to find out the influences of health message strategies via LINE on senior audiences’ responses. Thirty-one health messages via two senior group LINEs (Young Happy and O-lunla Club) between September 8, 2018 and March 9, 2019 were analyzed to identify the category of health message strategies. Analysis results identified three categories of content type (informational, narrative, and mix of both) and three categories of message framing (gain-framed, loss-framed, and mix of both frames). 303 Thai senior citizens were purposively recruited from Thai senior schools and senior clubs to participate in an offline survey. Data were analyzed using frequency, mean, standard deviation, and Variance-based Structural Equation Modeling (VB-SEM) by applying the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Analysis results suggest that a mix of informational and narrative messages was more persuasive. Gain-framed messages were more persuasive than loss-framed messages. Findings also reveal that health message strategies significantly influenced cognitive and behavioral responses, and that affective responses mediated the effect of cognitive responses on behavioral responses. Implications are provided for communication scholars, practitioners, and health promotion agencies to enhance the effectiveness of health messages targeting senior citizens.