Abstract
It is unrealistic to expect that the public can or will remember hundreds of ever-changing health recommendations, guidelines, and tips, let alone fact-checking explanations to counter health misinformation. Fuzzy-Trace Theory (FTT) proposes that one way people remember information involves a “gist” understanding of the essential, bottom-line meaning of the information. In this dissertation, I developed and tested a novel FTT-based approach to health communication called “Core Health Knowledge” (CHK). I define CHK as essential knowledge about health that is widely transferable across a range of health issues, and expressed in simple and memorable ways using “gist” representations. CHK has the potential to help build public knowledge of various public health issues, complementing current efforts to address health misinformation.
In my dissertation, I first assessed public reactions – awareness, agreement, alignment, transferability, and understanding – to six CHK examples in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 358 community members. Next, I conducted a Delphi expert panel process to select one of the CHK examples as the most promising for public health impact, based on the findings of public reactions. Finally, in a randomized controlled experiment among 584 demographically diverse community members, I tested the selected CHK example for its effectiveness in increasing the likelihood that participants would accept new health information that was CHK- consistent or reject new health information that was CHK-inconsistent.
I found that public agreement with the six CHK examples was high, while awareness, alignment, transferability, and understanding varied across the six examples and by demographic subgroups in the study sample. In the experiment, I found that a one-time exposure to a brief CHK message was insufficient to significantly change the rate at which participants accepted CHK-consistent health information or rejected CHK-inconsistent health information. However, awareness and agreement were significant predictors of these outcomes.
Future studies should explore whether exposure to CHK messages affects the main outcomes among those who are less aware or unaware of the CHK message, and/or who only somewhat agree with the CHK message. CHK has the potential to be a novel, complementary health communication strategy in solving various public health problems.
Committee Chair
Matthew W Kreuter
Committee Members
Kimberly J Johnson; Rachel G Tabak; Amy McQueen; Douglas A Luke
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
Spring 5-2026
Language
English (en)
Author's ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2742-1038
Recommended Citation
Weng, Olivia, "Building the Public’s Core Health Knowledge - A Novel, Complementary Health Communication Strategy" (2026). School of Public Health Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations. 1.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/sph_etds/1