Reducing information avoidance: The effectiveness of humour, cute animals and coping messages.

Objectives: Guided by the hedonic surplus/mood-as-resource hypotheses, we sought to identify message components that prevent health information avoidance by inducing hedonic psychological states.

Design: Two experimental studies.

Methods: Participants, age 45-75, recruited from the online survey platform, Prolific (Study 1 N = 288, Study 2 N = 505), completed a survey of their colorectal cancer (CRC) information avoidance tendency and demographics.

Colorectal cancer information avoidance is associated with screening adherence.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common cancer among U.S. men and women and the second deadliest.

I don't know my child's asthma risk: evidence against satisficing as an explanation for 'don't know' responses.

Several studies suggest that "don't know" (DK) responses to risk perception items may represent meaningful expressions of uncertainty about disease risk. However, researchers are often discouraged from including a DK response option in survey items due to concerns about respondents overusing it to minimize cognitive effort-a phenomenon often referred to as . Our objective was to investigate whether patterns of DK responses to risk perception survey items were consistent with satisficing behavior.

Education for public health 2030: transformation to meet health needs in a changing world.

Education for public health is at a critical inflection point, and either transforms for success or fails to remain relevant. In 2020, the Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health launched an initiative, Framing the Future 2030: Education for Public Health (FTF 2030) to develop a resilient educational system for public health that promotes scientific inquiry, connects research, education, and practice, eliminates inequities, incorporates anti-racism principles, creates and sustains diverse and inclusive teaching and learning communities, and optimizes systems and resources to prepare graduates who are clearly recognizable for their population health perspectives, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices. Three expert panels: (1) Inclusive excellence through an anti-racism lens; (2) Transformative approaches to teaching and learning; and (3) Expanding the reach, visibility, and impact of the field of academic public health are engaged in ongoing deliberations to generate recommendations to implement the necessary change.

Reasons people avoid colorectal cancer information: a mixed-methods study.

Objective: With screening, colorectal cancer can be detected when treatable, or even prevented. However, approximately one in five people tend to avoid colorectal cancer information, and avoidance is associated with being less likely to have been screened for the disease. Crucial to developing strategies to reduce information avoidance, we sought a comprehensive understanding of reasons people avoid colorectal cancer information.

Palliative care use and utilization determinants among patients treated for advanced stage lung cancer care in the community and academic medical setting.

Purpose: Despite clinical guidelines, palliative care is underutilized during advanced stage lung cancer treatment. To inform interventions to increase its use, patient-level barriers and facilitators (i.e.

Moving beyond the "Health Halo" of Alcohol: What Will it Take to Achieve Population Awareness of the Cancer Risks of Alcohol?

We discuss the implications of Seidenberg and colleagues' report confirming low levels of accurate awareness of the cancer harms associated with alcohol use, including wine, beer, and liquor consumption. The authors propose that academic and lay messaging describing consumption of wine and other forms of alcohol as reducing heart disease risk has created generalized beliefs about the health benefits of drinking alcohol. This "health halo" surrounding alcohol consumption leads the public to overgeneralize alcohol health benefits to other diseases, including cancer.

Worldview Orientations and Personal and Social Risk Perceptions for COVID-19 in a U.S. Population-Based Sample.

Adoption of COVID-19 preventive behaviors involves considering personal risk and the risk to others. Consequently, many COVID-19 prevention measures are intended to protect both the individual engaging in the behavior and others in the population. Yet, the preponderance of research is focused on perceptions of an individual's personal risk, making risk perception for others a critical area for investigation.

Associations between social COVID-19 exposure and psychological functioning.

The negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health have been widely reported, but less is known about how the impact of COVID-19 on others in one's social circle shapes these high distress levels. This study examines associations between social COVID-19 exposure-knowing someone who had a COVID-19 infection-and psychological functioning, as well as whether socio-demographic factors moderate these relationships. In June 2020, respondents (N = 343) from clinics in Tampa, Florida, U.

Race/Ethnicity, Nativity Status, and Patient Portal Access and Use.

We examined whether patient portals (online medical records) access and use differed between groups of various races/ethnicities and nativity status. We used data from the nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey (N=3,191). We used logistic regression to examine associations between nativity status and the following three binary outcomes: (1) being offered access to patient portals by patients' health care providers/insurers, (2) being encouraged to use one by their health care providers, and (3) having used one within the past 12 months.

Infusing high-impact practices in undergraduate public health curricula: Models, lessons learned, and administrative considerations from two public universities.

High-impact practices (HIPs) can improve the rigor, quality, and outcomes of undergraduate education. Several high-impact practices are explicitly woven into the overarching goals, learning objectives, and curricular competencies for undergraduate public health degree programs, while others are natural fits. However, capitalizing on the value of HIPs for public health undergraduates requires a conscious effort in the process of curriculum design, course delivery, and administration of these programs.

The Impact of Maternal Worry on Infant Care Practices.

Objectives: Examine the 1) prevalence of worries among US mothers of infants; 2) association between worries and American Academy of Pediatrics recommended infant care practices (breastfeeding, supine sleep, roomsharing without bedsharing); 3) association of maternal and household characteristics with worries.

Methods: We analyzed a nationally representative sample of 3165 mothers who were surveyed regarding safe sleep and breastfeeding when infants were 2 to 6 months of age in 2011-2014. We examined the prevalence of 8 maternal worries (housing, job, income, neighborhood, family relationships, health, baby's health, family member health).

Prevention is political: political party affiliation predicts perceived risk and prevention behaviors for COVID-19.

Background: Many US politicians have provided mixed messages about the risks posed by SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and whether and to what extent prevention practices should be put in place to prevent transmission. This politicization of the virus and pandemic may affect individuals' risk perceptions and willingness to take precautions. We examined how political party affiliation relates to risk perception for one's own and other people's likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection/COVID-19 illness.

Dismissing "Don't Know" Responses to Perceived Risk Survey Items Threatens the Validity of Theoretical and Empirical Behavior-Change Research.

Since the middle of the 20th century, perceptions of risk have been critical to understanding engagement in volitional behavior change. However, theoretical and empirical risk perception research seldom considers the possibility that risk perceptions do not simply exist: They must be formed. Thus, some people may not have formulated a perception of risk for a hazard at the time a researcher asks them, or they may not be confident in the extent to which their perception matches reality.

Health Literacy, Education, and Internal Consistency of Psychological Scales.

Background: Measurement error might lead to biased estimates, causing ineffective interventions and service delivery. Identifying measurement error of health-related instruments helps develop accurate assessment of health-related constructs.

Objective: We compared the internal consistency of eight psychological scales used in health research in groups with adequate versus limited health literacy and in groups with higher versus lower education.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Prosocial Beliefs and Prevention Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic has required communities to engage in prosocial action, including behaviors that may inconvenience individuals, but protect the collective (e.g., mask wearing, social distancing).

Limitations in American adults' awareness of and beliefs about alcohol as a risk factor for cancer.

Alcohol is a carcinogen. Recommendations to reduce alcohol use to lower cancer risk are increasingly common. However, neither the beliefs of US adults about alcohol consumption and cancer risk, nor factors influencing those beliefs, are well understood.

Race/Ethnicity, Nativity Status, and Patient Portal Access and Use.

We examined whether patient portal (online medical records) access and use differed between groups of various races/ethnicities and nativity status. We used data from the nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey (N=3,191). We used logistic regression to examine associations between nativity status and the following three binary outcomes: (1) being offered access to patient portals by health care providers/insurers, (2) being encouraged to use one by their health care providers, and (3) having used one within the past 12 months.

Using a group development framework to maximize leadership strategies in the inaugural session of the Society of Behavioral Medicine Leadership Institute.

The 2016-2017 Inaugural Class of the Society of Behavioral Medicine Leadership Institute (SBM LI) debuted to an eager team of 36 mid-career fellows led by energetic mentors, professional coaches, and career development experts. Fellows were divided into learning communities of eight participants for deeper engagement. Our "Green Team" learning community bonded quickly and actively committed to our collective progress and projects.

The influence of affect on HPV vaccine decision making in an HPV vaccine naïve college student population.

The HPV vaccine is recommended for all adolescents starting at age 11, but coverage is low, especially in the young adult population. The CDC is prioritizing catch-up vaccination and has expanded recommendations for all young adults to age 26. College students may be ideal targets for HPV vaccine interventions as they typically have on-site clinics that offer prevention services and students are in the position to make decisions about their own healthcare.

Is it disgusting or am I just easily disgusted? The relation between situational disgust, dispositional disgust, and colonoscopy intentions.

Objective: While early detection is an effective way to reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, screening rates are low. An underlying factor in screening completion failure may be experiences of disgust when learning about screening and/or dispositional disgust.

Method: Participants recruited via Amazon MTurk (N = 296) read information about colonoscopy and completed an online survey assessing both dispositional forms of disgust (i.

Insights From African American Older Adults on Brain Health Research Engagement: "Need to See the Need".

African Americans (AAs) have an elevated risk of developing dementia, yet are underrepresented in clinical research. This project uses a community-engaged photovoice approach to add to existing understanding of barriers and facilitators to AA participation in Alzheimer's disease research and identify strategies to enhance engagement. Three AA research advocates served as community facilitators to identify and guide groups of AA adults through an eight to nine session photovoice project.

Cultural Worldviews and Perceived Risk of Colon Cancer and Diabetes.

Individuals with different cultural worldviews conceptualize risks in distinct ways, yet this work has not extended to personal illness risk perception. The purpose of this study was to 1) examine the relationships between two types of cultural worldviews (Hierarchy-Egalitarian; Individualism-Communitarianism) and perceived risk (perceived severity and susceptibility) for diabetes and colon cancer, 2) test whether health literacy modifies the above relationships, and 3) investigate whether trust in government health information functions as a putative mediator of the relations between cultural worldviews and disease perceived risk. We recruited (N=600) participants from a nationally-representative Internet survey panel.

Affective determinants of physical activity in cancer survivors.

Research with non-cancer survivor populations finds affective variables to be important determinants of physical activity. This study assessed the ability of explicit and implicit affective variables to predict the physical activity of cancer survivors, above that accounted for by cognitive variables. The study also tested whether the affective variables were connected to physical activity directly or indirectly through their association with behavioural intentions.

Using NCI-Designated Cancer Center Catchment-Area Data to Understand an Ignored but High-Need Constituent: People Uncertain or Avoidant about Their Cancer Risk.

In 2016, the NCI provided supplemental funding to 15 NCI-designated cancer centers to enhance cancer centers' capacity to collect critical catchment-area data across behavioral and psychosocial domains [March 2019 issue of ()-]. In response, we highlight opportunities for cancer risk perception research when collecting and utilizing catchment-area data given the remarkably high proportions of individuals who report they are at average cancer risk, high levels of cancer risk information avoidance, and extremely negative ("death") associations with cancer. First, we advocate for enhanced measurement specificity regarding whether some participants may be uncertain regarding their cancer risk.