Promoting HPV Vaccination Online: Message Design and Media Choice

We investigated the effects of message framing and online media channel on young adults’ perceived severity of human papillomavirus (HPV), perceived barriers and benefits of getting HPV vaccination, and behavioral intention to get vaccinated. An experiment was conducted with 142 college students. We found an interaction effect: The loss-framed message posted on Facebook was more effective in increasing the number of people who expressed their willingness to get HPV vaccination than the gain-framed message presented on Facebook. However, this framing effect was not found when the identical message was presented on an online newspaper. People’s perceptions of severity of HPV and barriers of getting HPV vaccination were also influenced, depending on which media channel the information was circulated.