COMBATING HEALTH MISINFORMATION THROUGH PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS: EVALUATING COUNTER-NARRATIVE STRATEGIES AMONG HEALTHCARE CONSUMERS

Abstract The proliferation of health misinformation presents an urgent challenge to public health initiatives. Although PSAs are utilized mainly to convey health while public service announcements (PSAs) are commonly employed to address health misinterpretation, few studies have compared counter-narrative with strategies in tackling misinformation. This study investigates the effectiveness of three distinct counter-narrative approaches in healthcare PSAs—fact-checking, storytelling, and expert authority—in combating vaccine and medication misinformation. 422 adults across eight districts of Tripura participated in a mixed-methods experiment evaluating immediate and delayed responses to these approaches. Storytelling strategies showed effect over time (sustained 68% retention at 4-week follow-up), compared to initial high but rapidly diminishing impact of fact-checking approaches (42% retention). These findings provide evidence for developing context-specific PSA strategies to combat health misinformation, suggesting that healthcare communicators should implement integrated approaches combining narrative elements with authoritative sources and consider the temporal dimension when designing public health communication campaigns.