Abstract
This study examines how theory-driven, targeted communication strategies influence public support for men’s health policies in Nigeria, with a specific focus on alcohol-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It responds to the disproportionate burden of alcohol-attributable harm among Nigerian men, the limited effectiveness of conventional health promotion approaches, and the need for behaviourally grounded, gender-responsive advocacy tools that can build legitimacy for population-level policy interventions.
The research is grounded in behavioural economics, health psychology, and persuasion theory. It integrates Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), the Health Belief Model (HBM), and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to develop a falsifiable and experimentally testable framework for targeted communication. SCT and HBM specify the belief, agency, and social modelling mechanisms through which communication may influence policy attitudes, while ELM provides the delivery rationale for using short narrative films under realistic attention constraints. Importantly, the study treats support for alcohol regulation as the primary outcome, conceptualized as an attitudinal and normative position toward collective policy instruments, rather than focusing narrowly on individual drinking behaviour. Behavioural intentions to reduce alcohol consumption are examined as secondary and exploratory outcomes.
To situate the research empirically, the study begins with a secondary analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and the World Bank, documenting gender-disaggregated trends in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), Years of Life Lost (YLLs), Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE), and health expenditure in Nigeria between 2000 and 2019. This analysis is complemented by a structured review of the literature on alcohol consumption patterns, masculinity norms, Nigeria’s NCD policy response, and prior health communication and advocacy efforts targeting men.
The core empirical component consists of an online randomized controlled experiment conducted with young adult Nigerian men recruited through digital platforms. Participants are randomly assigned to view short, AI-generated video interventions that convey identical factual information about alcohol-related harm but vary systematically in delivery format (narrative versus didactic) and messenger identity (authority-based versus relatable peer role model). The primary outcome is support for alcohol control policies, operationalized through a composite Policy Support Index. Secondary outcomes include intention to reduce alcohol consumption and theoretically specified mediators aligned with SCT and HBM, including perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, self-efficacy, perceived social norms, and identification with the messenger.
By isolating messenger and narrative effects while holding content constant, the study provides causal evidence on how specific communication features shape policy-relevant attitudes in a norm-constrained context. Methodologically, it demonstrates the feasibility and internal validity of fully online experimental evaluation for health advocacy research in low-resource settings. Substantively, it contributes to the literature on men’s health, alcohol policy, and behavioural communication by shifting the focus from individual behaviour change to public support for regulatory interventions. The findings are expected to inform policymakers, civil society actors, and donors on the design of scalable, theory-driven communication strategies capable of strengthening public legitimacy for alcohol control policies in Nigeria and comparable contexts.