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Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: This experiment aims to investigate the influence of narrative information varying in the degree of perceived similarity and source credibility in supplemented testimonials on the acceptance of digital mental health services (digi-MHSs). Methods: In fall 2020, n=231 university students we...

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Autores principales: Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer, Fritsche, Lara, Wopperer, Jeannette, Wals, Frank, Harrer, Mathias, Lehr, Dirk, Ebert, David D., Salewski, Christel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8549694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34721212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.738950
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author Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer
Fritsche, Lara
Wopperer, Jeannette
Wals, Frank
Harrer, Mathias
Lehr, Dirk
Ebert, David D.
Salewski, Christel
author_facet Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer
Fritsche, Lara
Wopperer, Jeannette
Wals, Frank
Harrer, Mathias
Lehr, Dirk
Ebert, David D.
Salewski, Christel
author_sort Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer
collection PubMed
description Objective: This experiment aims to investigate the influence of narrative information varying in the degree of perceived similarity and source credibility in supplemented testimonials on the acceptance of digital mental health services (digi-MHSs). Methods: In fall 2020, n=231 university students were randomly assigned to an active control group (aCG, n=55, “information only”) or one of three intervention groups (IGs) receiving information plus different testimonials being presented either by nonacademic staff (IG1, n=60), university students (IG2, n=58) or experts (IG3, n=58). We assessed mediation effects of similarity and credibility on acceptance in terms of attitudes and usage intentions. Results: Exposure to testimonials was associated with higher usage intentions (d=0.50) and more positive attitudes toward digi-MHSs (d=0.32) compared to mere information (aCG). Regarding source-related effects, one-way ANOVA showed group differences in intentions ( [Formula: see text] =0.13) that were significantly higher after exposure to testimonials targeted at students than in the other groups after adjusting for baseline intentions ( [Formula: see text] =0.24). Concerning underlying mechanisms, there were full mediation effects of similarity (IG1 versus IG2) on attitudes [95%CI (0.030, 0.441)] and intentions to use digi-MHSs [95%CI (0.100, 0.528)] and of credibility on attitudes [IG2 versus IG3; 95%CI (−0.217, −0.004)], all favoring students’ testimonials. Conclusion: Overall, this study indicates that the acceptance of digi-MHSs can be substantially increased by providing a simple, context-sensitive information intervention, including testimonials by university students. Since we identified mediating effects of credibility on cognitive attitudes and similarity on affect-driven intentions, a future trial could vary these features using narrative versus statistic information on digi-MHSs.
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spelling pubmed-85496942021-10-28 Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer Fritsche, Lara Wopperer, Jeannette Wals, Frank Harrer, Mathias Lehr, Dirk Ebert, David D. Salewski, Christel Front Psychol Psychology Objective: This experiment aims to investigate the influence of narrative information varying in the degree of perceived similarity and source credibility in supplemented testimonials on the acceptance of digital mental health services (digi-MHSs). Methods: In fall 2020, n=231 university students were randomly assigned to an active control group (aCG, n=55, “information only”) or one of three intervention groups (IGs) receiving information plus different testimonials being presented either by nonacademic staff (IG1, n=60), university students (IG2, n=58) or experts (IG3, n=58). We assessed mediation effects of similarity and credibility on acceptance in terms of attitudes and usage intentions. Results: Exposure to testimonials was associated with higher usage intentions (d=0.50) and more positive attitudes toward digi-MHSs (d=0.32) compared to mere information (aCG). Regarding source-related effects, one-way ANOVA showed group differences in intentions ( [Formula: see text] =0.13) that were significantly higher after exposure to testimonials targeted at students than in the other groups after adjusting for baseline intentions ( [Formula: see text] =0.24). Concerning underlying mechanisms, there were full mediation effects of similarity (IG1 versus IG2) on attitudes [95%CI (0.030, 0.441)] and intentions to use digi-MHSs [95%CI (0.100, 0.528)] and of credibility on attitudes [IG2 versus IG3; 95%CI (−0.217, −0.004)], all favoring students’ testimonials. Conclusion: Overall, this study indicates that the acceptance of digi-MHSs can be substantially increased by providing a simple, context-sensitive information intervention, including testimonials by university students. Since we identified mediating effects of credibility on cognitive attitudes and similarity on affect-driven intentions, a future trial could vary these features using narrative versus statistic information on digi-MHSs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8549694/ /pubmed/34721212 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.738950 Text en Copyright © 2021 Apolinário-Hagen, Fritsche, Wopperer, Wals, Harrer, Lehr, Ebert and Salewski. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Apolinário-Hagen, Jennifer
Fritsche, Lara
Wopperer, Jeannette
Wals, Frank
Harrer, Mathias
Lehr, Dirk
Ebert, David D.
Salewski, Christel
Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title_fullStr Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title_short Investigating the Persuasive Effects of Testimonials on the Acceptance of Digital Stress Management Trainings Among University Students and Underlying Mechanisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
title_sort investigating the persuasive effects of testimonials on the acceptance of digital stress management trainings among university students and underlying mechanisms: a randomized controlled trial
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8549694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34721212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.738950
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