Improving community health message reception through digital journalistic practices: Mixed-method evidence on health preventive behaviors and health podcast framing for emerging health issues

Abstract

Health issues stemming from the public’s lack of access to scientific and health information prompted mounting concerns about public health responses. A growing amount of digital journalism scholarship has indicated the relevance of podcasts in health communication through reaching and engaging audiences in more significant preventive behaviors. Integrating digital journalistic practices in health podcasts as a practical and low-cost communication strategy can augment public adherence to addressing widespread health issues. However, the role of health podcasts in media framing in promoting preventive health behaviors is largely unknown. This study used a mixed-method approach (e.g., content analysis and quasi-experiments) to uncover the effectiveness of health podcasts’ framing practices (scientific vs. health frames). The content analysis results demonstrated that the health podcasts mainly used carrier and normal frames, while problem definitions and treatment were leading scientific frames. In a series of quasi-experiments comprising 640 respondents from the UAE and Pakistan, this research manipulated eight frames employed in health podcasts (i.e., two leading sub-frames for each scientific and health frame) to examine the causal mechanism that affects preventive health behaviors (hereafter PB). The findings established that the message-consistent effects of media frames manifesting scientific evidence and health orientation made audiences adopt PB. Theoretically, this research addresses the call for a more comprehensive “community digital journalistic practices model,” further delivering novel evidence on the health podcast framing approaches to offer more eloquent community health campaigns to raise public health issues.