Explaining the effects of a decision intervention on mammography intentions: The roles of worry, fear and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer.
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.
['Seitz|Holli H|HH|', 'Schapira|Marilyn M|MM|', 'Gibson|Laura A|LA|', 'Skubisz|Christine|C|', 'Mello|Susan|S|', 'Armstrong|Katrina|K|', 'Cappella|Joseph N|JN|']
D000328:Adult D001007:Anxiety D001943:Breast Neoplasms D003657:Decision Making D005239:Fear D005260:Female D006801:Humans D033182:Intention D008327:Mammography D008875:Middle Aged D018570:Risk Assessment
mammography worry fear perceived susceptibility decision aid perceived risk