Using Persuasive Messages to Encourage Voluntary Hearing Protection Among Coal Miners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Stephenson, Michael T. ; Witte, Kim ; Vaught, Charles ; Quick, Brian L. ; Booth-Butterfield, Steve ; Patel, Dhaval ; Zuckerman, Cynthia
• Description:
  Introduction: This longitudinal field study was designed to encourage Appalachian coal miners in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to engage in hearing-protection behaviors. Method: Participants were mailed postcards that featured either a positive, negative, or neutral message on the outside of the postcard and a message encouraging hearing protection behaviors on the inside. The first posttest measurement of the effectiveness of the persuasive messages was conducted about a week after the postcards were mailed. The delayed posttest measurement was conducted six weeks later. Results: Responses from 307 coal miners revealed that the positive or neutral messages generated significantly more self-reported hearing protection behaviors than the negative message. Identical results were obtained in a delayed posttest assessment of miners' self-reported hearing protection behaviors. The positive message was also more effective than either the neutral or negative message in preventing defensive mechanisms from emerging over time. Impact on Industry: Positive and neutral messages were convincingly more than negative messages in facilitating self-reported hearing protection behaviors among coal miners. Similarly, the positive messages kept defensive processes at bay. Keywords: Hearing protection; Hearing loss; Coal miners; Campaign; Messages
• Subjects:
  NIOSH
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:28d9c1ae21f8c788fccbc1e9aa2ec2bb94dc8213fc6e1ed4eea6e3b0b2e63f45
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/9310/cdc_9310_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 652.55 KB ]