A study of the effect of message framing on oocyte donation

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to examine the effect of gain- and loss-framed messages on British and South East Asian women's intentions towards oocyte donation and to examine whether the components of the theory of planned behaviour influenced the relationship between framing and intentions.
METHODS: A total of 406 women participated in this study (mean age = 22, SD = 2.9). There were 211 participants in the gain condition and 195 in the loss condition.
RESULTS: An analysis of covariance found a main effect for framing (F(1, 402) = 6.3; P < 0.01) after controlling for existing attitudes towards oocyte donation and pre-message intentions to donate. Specifically, participants in the gain-framed condition were significantly more likely to report higher post-message intentions to donate oocytes than participants in the loss condition. However, the framing effect was only observed with British populations and not with women from South East Asia. Further, structural equation modelling analyses revealed lower levels of ‘perceived behavioural control’ (β = –0.420, P < 0.03) and positive attitudes towards ‘the importance of genetic ties between parent and child’ (β = 0.70, P < 0.001) were direct predictors of post-message intentions in the gain (but not loss) frame condition.
CONCLUSION: Findings obtained from this study indicate that oocyte donation campaigns should consider using gain-framed messages in recruitment appeals and message frames should be matched to the target populations’ perceived level of behavioural control.