Comparing the Effects of Different Story Types and Speakers in Hepatitis B Storytelling Videos

Chronic hepatitis B, a condition associated with severe complications, disproportionately affects Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Increasing testing among this population is critical for improving health outcomes. This study compares different types of video narratives that use storytelling techniques to an informational video (control), to examine whether narratives are associated with higher hepatitis B beliefs scores and video rating outcomes. A sample of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults ( N = 600) completed an online survey where they viewed one of four video conditions, three of which included storytelling techniques and one with informational content. Results indicated that parental stories received significantly higher perceived effectiveness ratings ( M = 3.88, SD = 0.61) than the older adult personal stories ( M = 3.62, SD = 0.74), F(3, 596) = 3.795, p = .010. Parental stories also had significantly higher perceived severity scores ( M = 3.83, SD = 0.69) compared to the young adult stories ( M = 3.73, SD = 0.74) and the informational videos ( M = 3.83, SD = 0.69), F(3, 596) = 7.72, p < .001. The informational videos ( M = 4.10, SD = 0.65) received significantly higher message credibility ratings than the older adult personal stories ( M = 3.84, SD = 0.70), F(3, 596) = 4.71, p = .003. Follow-up tests using Bonferroni correction revealed that parental stories ( M = 3.98, SD = 0.64) and young adult personal stories ( M = 3.934, SD = 0.76) scored significantly higher on speaker ratings than the older adult personal stories ( M = 3.698, SD = 0.77). Results suggest that storytelling has the potential for connecting with a specific audience in an emotional way that is perceived well overall. Future research should examine the long-term impact of hepatitis B personal story videos and whether the addition of facts or statistics to videos would improve outcomes.