An article in the Journal of the American Dental Association (Sherman, Updegraff & Mann, 2008) provides a summary of our work on using message framing to promote adherence to oral health behaviors. Available are some tools to help with applying this research into practice.

1. Samples of gain-framed and loss-framed messages for promoting flossing:

1. Gain-framed article (pdf): highlights benefits of flossing; more effective for approach-oriented individuals.
2. Loss-framed article (pdf): highlights consequences of not flossing; more effective for avoidance-oriented individuals.

2. BIS/BAS Excel spreadsheet: This contains the items from the BIS/BAS scale used to classify people as predominantly approach-oriented or avoidance-oriented. It also can be used to automatically calculate scores and make a recommendation for the most effective message frame to use.

 

Research Reports

Sherman, D. K., Updegraff, J. A., & Mann, T. L. (2008). Improving oral health behavior: A social psychological approach. Journal of the American Dental Association, 139, 1382-1387.

Updegraff, J. A., Sherman, D. K., *Luyster, F. S., & Mann, T. L. (2007). The effects of message quality and congruency on perceptions of tailored health communications. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 248-256. [PDF]

Sherman, D. K., Mann, T. L., & Updegraff, J. A. (2006). Approach/avoidance orientation, message framing, and health behavior: Understanding the congruency effect. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 164-168. [PDF]

Mann, T. L., Sherman, D. S., & Updegraff, J. A. (2004). Dispositional motivations and message framing: A test of the congruency hypothesis. Health Psychology, 23, 330-334. [PDF]