Citation

Welbourne J, Booth-Butterfield S. Health Commun. 2005; 18(2): 141-154.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1207/s15327027hc1802_3

PMID

16083408

Abstract

A field study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) health and safety message targeted at firefighters and to examine predictors of safety intentions among this group. This project examined: (a) the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict behavioral intentions for firefighters receiving a NIOSH occupational safety and health message; and (b) the use of a persuasion output matrix to assess message impact. A message about firefighting safety was nationally distributed to 36,000 fire chiefs, from which 781 were randomly selected to complete a survey assessing message impact and behavioral intentions. Results indicate message impact was weakest at the exposure, recall, and action stages of persuasion output. The TPB variables were found to significantly predict safety intentions.