Fear of Messaging: Research the Target Audience, Behavior

FEAR OF MESSAGING
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Fear of Messaging
Health communication experts have a broad array of fear-based appeals that are made to enact an emotional reaction or some threat of a disability, disease, or death, which in turn are required to motivate an individual’s behavior change. Doctors are prone to use fear-based messages in instances where patients are being counseled about chronic diseases prevention and self-management, especially when handling patients who are believed to be unmotivated or non-adherent to the prescribed treatment methods (Carey & Sarma, 2016). In such a case, the use of a fear message appeals to a change of behavior, hence being a powerful motivator. An instance of such a message is detailed below:
It is essential and necessary for you to adhere to your medication: if you don’t, you are likely to go blind, have a stroke, die, or lose a leg, or face total amputation of your body joints.
In this fear-based message, it is important to consider that the target audience presented in the case is a patient struggling to adhere to the prescribed medical regimen. The message, therefore, remains a primary motivator for behavior change, requiring the patient to adhere to the medications and prescribed the manner of living lest the patient face the remedies for non-compliance (Johnstonet al, 2015). However, it is important to consider that appeals to fear such as the message indicated above may also cause harm, an aspect that may result in increased feelings of anxiety, negative attitudes towards the physicians, and incompetence. Given this, it is vital to consider that the health risk is evidently clear since it has the capacity to change the patient’s behav...