An interventional study of Exposure to source and message content in Vaccination and Vaccination Promotion, sponsored by University of Massachusetts, Worcester. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-07.
Sponsored by University of Massachusetts, Worcester · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
The goal is to identify the most impactful strategies for capturing attention and enhancing effectiveness of vaccine promotion messages. This will be done using an online survey that employs remote eye-tracking and self report measures to evaluate response to sample vaccine promotion social media content in rural populations in New England. Participants will be randomly assigned into one of 14 conditions in a 2(source: expert vs. influencer) by 7 (themes: constructs from 7C Vaccine Framework) experiment and view sample messages and then answer questions about their attitudes and beliefs while being monitored for eye-tracking.
University of Massachusetts, Worcester is the lead sponsor of 288 studies on the registry; 54 are open to participants now.
Of its 25 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 18 (72%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influence as the source and the construct of "confidence" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "confidence" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influence as the source and the construct of "complacency" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influence as the source and the construct of "complacency" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influence as the source and the construct of "constraints" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "constraints" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influencer as the source and the construct of "calculation" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "calculation" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influencer as the source and the construct of "collective responsibility" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "collective responsibility" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influencer as the source and the construct of "compliance" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "compliance" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "peer" influencer as the source and the construct of "conspiracy" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
This arm will include messages with a "professional" influencer as the source and the construct of "conspiracy" as the message.
Behavioral: Exposure to source and message content
Within each arm, participants will be exposed to two messages each of which are delivered by the same source (peer or professional) and have message content related to one of the 7C Constructs.
Source credibility
Participants' perception of the credibility of the message source will be assessed using a 7-point Likert scale measured across four items. Participants will be asked to rate the following four items on this scale: To what extent do you believe the source of the message to be… (1=not at all, 7=very much so) 1. Fair 2. Accurate 3. Telling the whole story 4. Trustworthy Unit of measure: Scale score 1-7, mean
Time frame: Immediately after viewing each message
Perceived Message Effectiveness
Perceived message effectiveness will be measured using six items (worth remembering, grabs attention, powerful, informative, meaningful, convincing), each rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The outcome will be the mean of these six ratings for each participant, then averaged by experimental condition. To what extent is… (1=not at all, 7=very much so) 1. The message worth remembering 2. The message grabs attention 3. This message powerful 4. This message informative 5. This message meaningful 6. This message convincing Unit of Measure: Scale score (1-7, mean across items)
Time frame: Immediately after viewing each message
Visual attention
Visual attention, quantified as mean dwell time in milliseconds, will be measured using remote eye-tracking while participants view vaccine promotion messages. Dwell time will be calculated for pre-specified Areas of Interest (AOIs) during the message viewing period. Higher dwell times indicate greater visual attention to the AOIs. Unit of measure: mean dwell time in milliseconds per message
Time frame: During message viewing ( immediately post-randomization, prior to completion of post-message survey)
Message reactance
Reactance will be assessed using four items (irritated, angry, annoyed, aggravated), rated 0 ("None of this feeling") to 4 ("A great deal of this feeling"). The mean reactance score will be calculated for each participant. How much did this message make you feel the following way? Response options: 0 (None of this feeling) to 4 (A great deal of this feeling). 1. Irritated 2. Angry 3. Annoyed 4. Aggravated Unit of Measure: Scale score (0-4, mean across items)
Time frame: Immediately after viewing each message
Information sharing intentions
Description: Assessed with 6 items regarding interpersonal and online sharing, rated 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). The mean score across items will be reported per participant and per condition. Rate with the following statements on a scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). Interpersonal setting 1. I would be willing to share this information with others. 2. I would talk with others about this message. 3. I would point others in a direction where they could read this message. Online setting 4. I would be willing to post a link to this information on my social media. 5. I would like a social media post with this information. 6. I would share a social media post with this information. Unit of Measure: Scale score (1-5, mean across items)
Time frame: Immediately after viewing each message
Vaccine perceptions
Vaccine perceptions will be measured using an 8-item scale, administered pre- and post-message exposure. Items are rated from 1 (Strongly disagree/very negative) to 7 (Strongly agree/very positive). Higher scores indicate more positive vaccine perceptions. The outcome will be the mean change in score from pre- to post-exposure. Unit of Measure: Scale score (1-7, mean change)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (prior to message exposure) and immediately post-intervention (after message exposure)
Plan to share: Yes — Per the data management plan, datasets and codebooks will be provided to individual researchers upon reasonable request.
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University of Massachusetts, Worcester