When guilt works: a comprehensive meta-analysis of guilt appeals.

Introduction: Guilt appeals are widely used as a persuasive approach in various areas of practice. However, the strength and direction of the persuasive effects of guilt appeals are mixed, which could be influenced by theoretical and methodological factors.

Method: The present study is a comprehensive meta-analysis of 26 studies using a random-effects model to assess the persuasive effects of guilt appeals.

A Content Analysis of Problematic Gambling Prevention Interventions in the United States.

Gambling revenue in the United States is at all-time highs while recent and forthcoming legislation relaxes constraints on casino gaming, sports betting, and fantasy sports betting. Increased gambling will result in increased problematic gambling, highlighting the need to study the impact of our problematic gambling prevention interventions. To address this, we conducted a content analysis of problematic gambling prevention messages in the U.

Entertainment-education to reduce internalized stigma, increase intimate partner status disclosure intentions, and increase antiretroviral medical adherence intentions: A randomized controlled trial targeting black women living with HIV in the Southern U.S.

Background: Black women in the Southern U.S. account for 67% of all new HIV diagnoses across women of all races and ethnicities.

Lessons learned from the "Goodie Box": A message design study developed and evaluated in community settings for cervical cancer prevention.

Despite the availability of free pap testing services, Jamaican women have low human papillomavirus (HPV) screening rates; 16% of women in the Kingston Metropolitan Area have been screened within the prior 3 years. This paper discusses the testing of theory-based messages to increase HPV screening uptake in a low-resource setting, using HPV self-test kits designed for this intervention. A total of 163 Jamaican women, aged 30-65 years, who had not had a pap test in at least 3 years, from two low socioeconomic status communities in Kingston, were enrolled and assigned to one of two versions of an HPV self-test kit, either with or without culturally targeted fear appeal messages.

Evaluating a game-based randomized experiment to increase melanoma identification among adults living in the U.S.

Background: Although cutaneous melanoma diagnoses are rising, morbidity and mortality can be reduced through early detection. This investigation seeks to improve melanoma identification accuracy, attitudes, and intentions among a lay population by comparing the effectiveness of different melanoma identification training strategies and the effect of real-time decisional feedback on a melanoma identification task. We developed an innovative, game-based approach and hypothesize differences among frequently used melanoma identification training modalities (i.

Cancer Information Overload Across Time: Evidence from Two Longitudinal Studies.

A majority of U.S. adults report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of available cancer information, termed (CIO).

Evaluating a Transformational Health Game to Influence Perceptions of the Condoms-as-Evidence Policy.

Some countries treat carrying condoms as evidence of prostitution, commonly referred to as "condoms-as-evidence" policy/practice. This policy has deleterious outcomes on the health and safety of sex workers worldwide. This study evaluates the impact of a simulation game that advocates against the policy in an effort to increase advocacy attitudes and intentions against condoms-as-evidence policies and practices.

90 DAYS: An investigation of a short entertainment-education film to improve HIV status disclosure among black women living with HIV in Miami-Dade County.

Within Miami-Dade County, Black women experience disproportionate rates of HIV incidence and prevalence. Status disclosure to sexual partners is central to mitigating the HIV epidemic and ensuring a healthier lifestyle for those living with the virus. The disclosure processes model (DPM) posits that barriers such as stigma and negative outcome expectations often facilitate disclosure avoidance.

The Development and Validation of the Colonoscopy Joking Scale.

Joking is an important communication behavior that helps people cope with colorectal cancer and colonoscopy screening. However, whether joking serves a beneficial or maladaptive function in the context of colorectal cancer screening remains unknown. The lack of a valid scale impedes our understanding of how joking influences colonoscopy uptake.

Feel Worried, Overloaded, or Fatalistic? The Determinants of Cancer Uncertainty Management Preferences.

Uncertainty in the context of cancer involves a complex and conflicting decision-making process. Individual preferences of seeking or avoiding information in the decisions of maintaining, reducing, or increasing uncertainty often depend on key cancer-related beliefs. The present study investigates whether cancer worry (CW), information overload (CIO), or fatalism (CF) can predict four constructs of uncertainty management preferences - avoid to maintain hope, avoid insufficient information, seek to increase uncertainty, and seek to reduce uncertainty.

Cancer information overload: Discriminant validity and relationship to sun safe behaviors.

Objective: Past research suggests a large number of adults feel overwhelmed by the amount of cancer information - a phenomenon labeled cancer information overload (CIO). The current study examines whether CIO is discriminant from other negative message perceptions (reactance, information avoidance) and related to sun safe behaviors.

Methods: U.

Can a Social Norms Appeal Reduce Indoor Tanning? Preliminary Findings From a Tailored Messaging Intervention.

Perceived social norms are routinely observed as positive predictors of indoor tanning. Past research has suggested that messaging interventions target normative perceptions to reduce indoor tanning behavior. Despite this call, little empirical research has investigated the utility of taking a social norms approach in behavioral interventions.

A Closer Look at Descriptive Norms and Indoor Tanning: Investigating the Intermediary Role of Positive and Negative Outcome Expectations.

Indoor tanning is a risky behavior that dramatically increases skin cancer risk. Researchers from multiple disciplines aim to better understand this behavior to develop interventions and messages to curtail it. As such, we investigated the role of social norms and outcome expectations as predictors of tanning behavior as part of a larger test of constructs included in the Theory of Normative Social Behavior.

Barriers to Enacting Childhood Sun Safety Behavior: Findings from Focus Group Interviews Among Hispanic Parents in Miami.

Hispanics are generally diagnosed at more advanced stages of melanoma than non-Hispanic Whites, leading to lower survival rates. As skin cancer incidence is attributable to lifetime exposure to ultraviolet light, encouraging the performance of sun safety behaviors in childhood is an important strategy to address this divide. Problematically, we know little about the barriers to sun safety among Hispanic youth, especially among the Hispanics living in South Florida.

The relationship between low perceived numeracy and cancer knowledge, beliefs, and affect.

Low numeracy may skew patient perceptions of information about cancer. This paper examines the relationship between self-reported measures of perceived numeracy and cancer knowledge, beliefs, and affect, using results from 3,052 respondents to the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS-3). Chi-squared tests were used to identify differences in responses between high- and low-numeracy groups using three measures of perceived numeracy.

Biomarker profiling for breast cancer detection: translational research to determine acceptance of a novel breast cancer screening technique.

The current study seeks to determine how the psychosocial predictors of the health belief model are related to willingness to adopt biomarker screening practices among women above and below current screening age recommendations, as biomarker profiling can potentially detect cancer much earlier than current breast cancer detection methods. Patients ( = 205) at an Obstetrician/Gynaecology office in a mid-sized Midwest city. Participants completed a survey in the waiting room before their doctor appointment.

Joking about cancer as an avoidance strategy among US adults.

Findings from years of research on fear appeals suggest that individuals with low efficacy utilize avoidance strategies when they perceive a significant threat-a process called fear control. Some research suggests that joking could be an avoidance strategy. The current study identifies conditions in which people are more likely to joke about colorectal cancer and explores how this behavior may be associated with screening avoidance.

The Development and Validation of the Mood-based Indoor Tanning Scale.

Objectives: Research indicates that mood-based motivations may be an important predictor of indoor tanning bed use and may be related to indoor tanning dependence. Problematically, little research has been conducted to develop a psychometric measure of mood-based tanning motivations. The current study seeks to develop and validate the moodbased indoor tanning scale (MITS).

When Does Perceived Susceptibility to Skin Cancer Influence Indoor Tanning? The Moderating Role of Two Risk Perception Beliefs.

Previous research has demonstrated an inconsistent relationship between perceived susceptibility to skin cancer and indoor tanning. The current study explored potential moderators of this relationship to better understand how risk perceptions can impact indoor tanning intentions and behavior. A national online survey (N = 267) was administered in the United States to establish the relationship between perceived susceptibility to skin cancer, cancer fatalism, and external risk attribution beliefs on indoor tanning intentions and behavior.

Reducing, Maintaining, or Escalating Uncertainty? The Development and Validation of Four Uncertainty Preference Scales Related to Cancer Information Seeking and Avoidance.

Uncertainty is a central characteristic of many aspects of cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Brashers's (2001) uncertainty management theory details the multifaceted nature of uncertainty and describes situations in which uncertainty can both positively and negatively affect health outcomes. The current study extends theory on uncertainty management by developing four scale measures of uncertainty preferences in the context of cancer.

How Do Perceived Descriptive Norms Influence Indoor Tanning Intentions? An Application of the Theory of Normative Social Behavior.

Indoor tanning bed use is highly influenced by perceived norms about a tanned appearance. The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) details the many ways in which norms can impact intentions and behavior, but has never been assessed in the context of indoor tanning. Considering this, we conducted a survey among female university students (N = 274) to determine the extent to which the TNSB predicted intentions to use indoor tanning beds.

Health information seeking and scanning among US adults aged 50-75 years: Testing a key postulate of the information overload model.

Past research has found that older US adults (aged 50-75 years) exhibit high levels of cancer information overload and cancer worry; however, no study to date has examined whether these perceptions are related to information seeking/scanning. To explore this relationship, older adults ( N = 209, M = 55.56, SD = 4.

Psychosocial predictors of human papillomavirus vaccination intentions for young women 18 to 26: religiosity, morality, promiscuity, and cancer worry.

Objectives: To determine whether five psychosocial variables, namely, religiosity, morality, perceived promiscuity, cancer worry frequency, and cancer worry severity, predict young women's intentions to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.

Methods: Female undergraduate students (n=408) completed an online survey. Questions pertaining to hypothesized predictors were analyzed through bivariate correlations and hierarchical regression equations.

In-group rationalizations of risk and indoor tanning: A textual analysis of an online forum.

Unlike other health behaviors, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between perceived skin cancer risk and reduction or cessation of indoor tanning bed use. This study seeks to address this inconsistency by determining how indoor tanning bed users rationalize skin cancer risk with their tanning behavior. Qualitative textual analysis of indoor tanning message board posts (N = 330) revealed varied perceptions of risk, including acknowledging the risk of indoor tanning; denying or downplaying risk, often citing perceived health benefits associated with tanning; blaming outside forces for cancer, such as lotion or genetics; and fatalistic beliefs about cancer.