April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: Postpartum Depression and Awareness of Social Support Among Significant Others: How Message Framing Effect Interacts With the Self-Construal Concept
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a disorder in which up to 20% of women develop perinatal mental health disorders during the postpartum period (Ghaedrahmati et al., 2017). Symptoms include insomnia, fatigue, mood swings, frequent crying spells, intense feelings of hopelessness, and even the urge to harm their babies or themselves. In the long run, PPD negatively impacts the mother-child relationship (Sampson et al., 2017).
While health organizations have taken several steps to inform expecting mothers of the signs and symptoms to watch out for PPD, the incidence of PPD has shown a steady increase in the past years. Such a fact indicates that communicating how social support can decrease the risk of PPD is essential, especially for significant others around the expecting mothers. Social support is defined as the extent to which aid and resources are provided to an individual experiencing a challenge at a given time (Thoits, 2011). Studies found that a lack of social support considerably predicts the onset of PPD (Howell et al., 2015). Therefore, this study aims to explore what is a compelling message strategy to persuade members who form the social circles of the next new mom to build awareness of the symptoms of PPD as well as the adequate support needed by her.
Health campaigns often portray the risk using either gain or loss-framed messages. Gain-frame messages highlight the benefits of engaging in healthy behavior. In contrast, loss-frame messages emphasize the consequences of neglecting healthy behavior. Together with the effectiveness of message framing, we hypothesized a matching effect between individual’s self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Interdependent self-construal focuses strongly on their relationships with others and is concerned how they can benefit their social group. Thus, a message discussing how could help a mother struggling with PPD would lead them to seek more information about PPD and supporting intentions. On the other hand, independent self-construal shows distinctness from others, which may positively relate to loss-frame messages.
An online between-subject experiment was conducted to investigate whether messages crafted using a gain or loss frame interact with an individual’s level of self-construal (independent vs. interdependent), in terms of intention to seek information, intention to support postpartum mothers, and self-efficacy of adopting support behaviors. A 2 x 2 ANCOVA (n = 120, controlling prior awareness of PPD) revealed that interdependent self-construal positively relates to information-seeking intention and supporting behavior intentions, with no significant difference with independent self-construal. In addition to such interaction effects, the loss-frame message was more persuasive regarding the dependent measures.
The finding shows how the awareness and ability to be adequately supportive by those in a postpartum mother’s circle is important, and to increase support from significant others, framing a message in a threatful manner (loss) matters, which implies that the public lacks an understanding of PPD. Individual’s self-construals were revealed as a possible boundary condition. Such findings guide a health campaign aiming to reduce the incidence of PPD should focus on increasing the involvement of other members around pregnant mothers.
While health organizations have taken several steps to inform expecting mothers of the signs and symptoms to watch out for PPD, the incidence of PPD has shown a steady increase in the past years. Such a fact indicates that communicating how social support can decrease the risk of PPD is essential, especially for significant others around the expecting mothers. Social support is defined as the extent to which aid and resources are provided to an individual experiencing a challenge at a given time (Thoits, 2011). Studies found that a lack of social support considerably predicts the onset of PPD (Howell et al., 2015). Therefore, this study aims to explore what is a compelling message strategy to persuade members who form the social circles of the next new mom to build awareness of the symptoms of PPD as well as the adequate support needed by her.
Health campaigns often portray the risk using either gain or loss-framed messages. Gain-frame messages highlight the benefits of engaging in healthy behavior. In contrast, loss-frame messages emphasize the consequences of neglecting healthy behavior. Together with the effectiveness of message framing, we hypothesized a matching effect between individual’s self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Interdependent self-construal focuses strongly on their relationships with others and is concerned how they can benefit their social group. Thus, a message discussing how could help a mother struggling with PPD would lead them to seek more information about PPD and supporting intentions. On the other hand, independent self-construal shows distinctness from others, which may positively relate to loss-frame messages.
An online between-subject experiment was conducted to investigate whether messages crafted using a gain or loss frame interact with an individual’s level of self-construal (independent vs. interdependent), in terms of intention to seek information, intention to support postpartum mothers, and self-efficacy of adopting support behaviors. A 2 x 2 ANCOVA (n = 120, controlling prior awareness of PPD) revealed that interdependent self-construal positively relates to information-seeking intention and supporting behavior intentions, with no significant difference with independent self-construal. In addition to such interaction effects, the loss-frame message was more persuasive regarding the dependent measures.
The finding shows how the awareness and ability to be adequately supportive by those in a postpartum mother’s circle is important, and to increase support from significant others, framing a message in a threatful manner (loss) matters, which implies that the public lacks an understanding of PPD. Individual’s self-construals were revealed as a possible boundary condition. Such findings guide a health campaign aiming to reduce the incidence of PPD should focus on increasing the involvement of other members around pregnant mothers.