April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: The Effect of Game Interactivity and Message Processing on Promotion of Organ Donation Registration Among College Students
Despite the majority of U.S. adults supporting organ donation, only half are registered organ donors (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). This discrepancy can end up costing lives, as one individual on the waitlist to receive a transplant dies every 30 minutes (United Network for Organ Sharing, 2023). The need for effective organ donation registration interventions is therefore critical to begin addressing the shortage of available organs. This study explores the effectiveness of interactive, multimedia interventions to increase organ donation knowledge and registration among emerging adults.
Drawing from the literature on technological affordances and human-computer interaction we sought to explore the role of interactivity in organ donation registration education. Affordances are often understood as features of a system that enable behavioral potential (Volkoff & Strong, 2017). Past work has shown that interactivity, the act of selecting or customizing a mediated experience (Sundar, 2007), can increase message effectiveness (Hanus & Fox, 2017; Sundar et al., 2014; Yang & Shen, 2018). Though organ donation interventions are generally effective at increasing registration rates (Feeley et al., 2016; Quick et al., 2023; Siegel et al., 2021), by integrating features designed to increase source interactivity, we aim to increase the effectiveness of these interventions.
We conducted an experimental study in which college students (n = 1,011) participated in either an interactive or non-interactive organ donation registration intervention. The interactive condition involved knowledge-based games and the option to choose a donation narrative. The non-interactive condition featured no games and no option to select a donation narrative. Structural equation modeling was conducted using lavaan for R (Rosseel, 2012), and its results (see Figure 1) show that those in the interactive condition perceived more interactivity of the program, providing evidence for a successful induction. Those who perceived more interactivity also reported more elaboration about the intervention. When controlling for the effect of pre-test knowledge, those who reported more cognitive elaboration scored higher on the knowledge post-test. Finally, those with more knowledge of organ donation were more likely to express desire to register to become an organ donor.
The results of this study suggest that incorporating interactive elements into registration interventions can increase audiences’ engagement and intentions to become organ donors. The practical implications of this are clear – with more effective interventions, there will be more potential donors, thereby decreasing the organ shortage. Theoretically, this work demonstrates that the incorporation of source interactivity affordances, operationalized as the selection of an avatar and informational content, can increase users’ message elaboration, even when accounting for an individual’s previous experience with the content. Prior work (e.g., Kang & Sundar, 2016; Oh & Sundar, 2015) has found that interactivity can decrease message elaboration. This discrepancy may be due to participants just selecting from predetermined program content and, therefore, not becoming distracted or overwhelmed by customization options. Regardless, future work in this area is warranted.
Drawing from the literature on technological affordances and human-computer interaction we sought to explore the role of interactivity in organ donation registration education. Affordances are often understood as features of a system that enable behavioral potential (Volkoff & Strong, 2017). Past work has shown that interactivity, the act of selecting or customizing a mediated experience (Sundar, 2007), can increase message effectiveness (Hanus & Fox, 2017; Sundar et al., 2014; Yang & Shen, 2018). Though organ donation interventions are generally effective at increasing registration rates (Feeley et al., 2016; Quick et al., 2023; Siegel et al., 2021), by integrating features designed to increase source interactivity, we aim to increase the effectiveness of these interventions.
We conducted an experimental study in which college students (n = 1,011) participated in either an interactive or non-interactive organ donation registration intervention. The interactive condition involved knowledge-based games and the option to choose a donation narrative. The non-interactive condition featured no games and no option to select a donation narrative. Structural equation modeling was conducted using lavaan for R (Rosseel, 2012), and its results (see Figure 1) show that those in the interactive condition perceived more interactivity of the program, providing evidence for a successful induction. Those who perceived more interactivity also reported more elaboration about the intervention. When controlling for the effect of pre-test knowledge, those who reported more cognitive elaboration scored higher on the knowledge post-test. Finally, those with more knowledge of organ donation were more likely to express desire to register to become an organ donor.
The results of this study suggest that incorporating interactive elements into registration interventions can increase audiences’ engagement and intentions to become organ donors. The practical implications of this are clear – with more effective interventions, there will be more potential donors, thereby decreasing the organ shortage. Theoretically, this work demonstrates that the incorporation of source interactivity affordances, operationalized as the selection of an avatar and informational content, can increase users’ message elaboration, even when accounting for an individual’s previous experience with the content. Prior work (e.g., Kang & Sundar, 2016; Oh & Sundar, 2015) has found that interactivity can decrease message elaboration. This discrepancy may be due to participants just selecting from predetermined program content and, therefore, not becoming distracted or overwhelmed by customization options. Regardless, future work in this area is warranted.