The Influence of Narrative Communication and Academic Communication on the Acceptance of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

The level of public acceptance of TCM is not only determined by medical factors but also by communication style. This study aimed to experimentally compare narrative and academically framed messages to determine their effects on participants' level of trust, involvement in TCM, belief in TCM theory, and intention to try TCM therapies. Participants with prior knowledge of TCM (N = 684) were randomly assigned to read a narrative or academically framed message with the same level of factual content and then asked to complete a post-exposure survey. Independent-samples t-tests and Pearson correlation were used. Significantly more trust, engagement, and behavioral willingness were associated with narrative communication compared to academic communication, while the difference in belief in the theoretical foundations of TCM was relatively small. Furthermore, trust and engagement were stronger predictors of willingness than belief across the two formats, suggesting that experiential responses are central to the process of motivating TCM practices. Mechanism analyses also revealed that while narrative communication was associated with increased persuasion overall, the relationship between evaluation and intention was similar across the two formats. The results of this study support the idea that narrative formats are useful as "persuasion amplifiers" and do not fundamentally alter the process of decision-making and that the inclusion of experiential responses and scientific explanations of TCM practices has value for health communication related to culturally embedded medical practices.