ArticleCommunications medicine2024
Seeing an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future lowers antibiotics expectations and requests.
Article in Communications medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparing the Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Public Health Messaging Experiment.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Trial
- [Antibiotic use: psychological factors influencing perceptions and behavior of physicians and patients].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Review
- The Difluoroboranyl-Fluoroquinolone Derivative "7a" Inhibits Bacterial DNA Gyrase and Exhibits Potent Activity Against Ciprofloxacin-ResistantMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Impact of an Educational Leaflet About Asymptomatic Bacteriuria and Urinary Tract Infection on Antibiotic Preferences Among US Adults ≥65 Years: An Online Randomized Controlled Survey Experiment.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- Why antimicrobial resistance messaging fails: qualitative insights interpreted through the elaboration likelihood model.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- A full review of online education resources available on antimicrobial stewardship for pet owners.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- Seeing an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future lowers antibiotics expectations and requests.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- Who says what to whom through what channel? Formative communication research on antibiotic resistance messaging for urgent care patients.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntibiotic resistance is an ongoing pandemic which represents a global public health threat. To encourage the judicious use of antibiotics, public health discourse and campaigns often engage in threat-based messaging depicting an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future. We studied the effectiveness of the strategy because of mixed evidence for its success, and because it is unclear how experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic might have influenced it.
methodsWe conducted a randomised controlled trial with 378 participants in three waves (before and during the pandemic in 2021 and 2022). Participants were randomly allocated to either the baseline arm, featuring a control film, or the intervention arm featuring a short film, Catch, depicting a post-antibiotic future. Participants expressed expectations and intended requests for antibiotics for a hypothetical ear infection and their adherence to a prescribed antibiotic for a hypothetical kidney infection. In waves 2 and 3, they also reported any COVID-19-related changes to their antibiotic desires.
resultsShowing participants a film about a post-antibiotic future substantially lowers clinically inappropriate expectations for antibiotics and their intended requests. Participants report that the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic decreased their desire for antibiotics but only when they watched the intervention film. The intervention slightly decreases participants' adherence intentions towards a prescribed antibiotic treatment.
conclusionsPresenting a film about an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future lowers expectations and intended requests for antibiotics and therefore has the potential to encourage judicious use of them. However, the adverse effects of such messaging on adherence to a course of antibiotics should be proactively managed.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.