Witte, Kim : Michigan State University, East Lansing
Meyer, Gary : Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Martell, Dennis : Michigan State University, East Lansing
Summary
Winner of the Distinguished Book Award by the Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association,
2001
Effective Health Risk Messages provides step-by-step instructions for developing theoretically based campaigns
that work. Readers will learn about message development theories, formative and summative evaluation, and even
basic research designs for evaluating your campaign. Worksheets are provided at the end of each chapter to provide
readers with hands-on, practical experiences in developing effective health risk messages. This book is suitable
for practitioners, researchers, and students alike, and can act as a stand-alone text or supplementary text for
persuasion, public health, advertising, and marketing classes.
Table of Contents
1. What are Health Risk Messages?
Health Risk Messages Defined
What's a Theory?
The Components of a Fear Appeal
Explicit versus Implicit Messages
The Use of Culturally Based Colloquialisms
Types of Threats
Summary
2. History of Health Risk Messages: Fear Appeal Theories from 1953 to 1991
Fear-as-Acquired Drive Model
The Parallel Process Model
Protection Motivation Theory
Summary
Definitions
3. Putting It All Together
The Overall Model
The Depiction of the Model
Comparisons with Other Models
Research on the EPPM
4. Useful Concepts from Other Theories
The Health Belief Model
The Theory of Reasoned Action
Social-Cognitive Theory
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Stages of Change Model
Social Marketing
Summary
5. Starting Out the Right Way: Formative Research
Setting Goals and Objectives: The Campaign Plan
Formative Research
