Communicating Risk to Encourage Preventive Health Behaviors in the Case of Food Safety: A Content Analysis of Nationally Distributed Messages. J. C. Gordon, Kansas State University; and K. E. Rowan, Purdue University
Foodborne illness is a significant and growing threat to U.S. public health caused by consuming foods containing microbial pathogens. This work examines lay perceptions of risk associated with foodborne illness, reviews theoretical foundations concerning risk perception’s role in preventive health behaviors, and examines nationally distributed food-safety promotional materials to discover textual features that amplify risk perceptions. Theoretical guidelines suggest that food safety messages designed to amplify perceptions of risk may play a large role in encouraging food-safety compliance thereby reducing the number of deaths and illnesses. Results of a quantitative content analysis, however, show that less than eight percent of statements contained in food-safety promotional materials stated or demonstrated the seriousness or likelihood of foodborne illness. Moreover, food-safety promotional materials from different sources contrasted dramatically in the degree to which messages contained risk statements. Food-safety promotional materials produced by government sources, for example, contained more than twice as many risk statements than similar materials generated by private entities. This work contributes to the understanding of the role of risk communication in the promotion of preventive health behaviors, provides a quantitative schema for analyzing textual features that amplify risk perceptions, and presents the results of a quantitative content analysis of food safety promotional materials that reveals differences in industrial and governmental approaches to communicating risk in the case of food safety.
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