Using First-Person Narratives to Increase Risk Perception of Foodborne Illness and Promote Safe Food Handling Practices among Mexican-Americans

Two experiments, part of a project exploring the effectiveness of first-person narratives by Mexican-American victims of severe foodborne illness aimed at preventing foodborne illness in the Mexican-American community, examined the effects of narrative voice (first or third-person) and story character’s ethnicity (White or Mexican-American) on audience perceived risk, intention to follow safe food handling practices, and support for public policies to prevent foodborne illness. First-person voice narratives were generally more effective than third-person narratives, leading to greater intention to perform the story’s advocated prevention behaviors, perceived risk of foodborne illness, and policy support. The effects of narrative voice were fully mediated by taking an actor’s perspective in processing the story and identifying with the story character. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.