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. 2018 May;33(5):682-700.
doi: 10.1080/08870446.2017.1387261. Epub 2017 Oct 26.

Explaining the effects of a decision intervention on mammography intentions: The roles of worry, fear and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer

Holli H Seitz  1   2 , Marilyn M Schapira  3   4 , Laura A Gibson  1 , Christine Skubisz  1   5 , Susan Mello  1   6 , Katrina Armstrong  3   7 , Joseph N Cappella  1
Affiliations

Explaining the effects of a decision intervention on mammography intentions: The roles of worry, fear and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer

Holli H Seitz et al. Psychol Health. 2018 May.

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the effects of a mammography decision intervention on perceived susceptibility to breast cancer (PSBC) and emotion and investigates how these outcomes predict mammography intentions.

Design: Randomised between-subjects online experiment. Participants were stratified into two levels of risk. Within each stratum, conditions included a basic information condition and six decision intervention conditions that included personalised risk estimates and varied according to a 2 (amount of information: brief vs. extended) × 3 (format: expository vs. untailored exemplar vs. tailored exemplar) design. Participants included 2465 US women ages 35-49.

Main outcome measures: PSBC as a percentage, PSBC as a frequency, worry, fear and mammography intentions.

Results: The intervention resulted in significant reductions in PSBC as a percentage for women in both strata and significant increases in worry and fear for women in the upper risk stratum. Of the possible mediators examined, only PSBC as a percentage was a consistent mediator of the effect of the intervention on mammography intentions.

Conclusion: The results provide insight into the mechanism of action of the intervention by showing that PSBC mediated the effects of the intervention on mammography intentions.

Keywords: decision aid; fear; mammography; perceived risk; perceived susceptibility; worry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors do not have any financial conflicts of interest to disclose.

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