Assessing the Model of Effectiveness of PSAs for Health Risk Associated Communications: A Study of Drinking and Driving

Using public service announcements (PSAs) in communicating health risks has certain effectiveness. However, the effectiveness achieved just in public awareness change and attitude change but not in behavior change. The question is, what factors affect the effectiveness of PSAs in terms of behavior change to reduce health risks to the community. In this study, a model of effectiveness of PSAs for health risk associated communications in the case of drinking and driving is proposed. Accordingly, direct factors affecting behavior change include attitude change and social change. In particular, two elements of communications: message execution and receiver’s elaboration are independents of attitude change, with awareness change (on health and law) is a mediator for the relationship between communications elements and attitude change. In addition, the model also tests whether receiver’s attitude change is affected by social chang