Risk Belief and Attitude Formation From Translated Scientific Messages About PFOA, an Environmental Risk Associated With Breast Cancer.

Evidence regarding possible environmental causes of breast cancer is advancing. Often, however, the public is not informed about these advances in a manner that is easily understandable. This research translates findings from biologists into messages at two literacy levels about perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a possible environmental contributor to breast cancer. The Heuristic Systematic Model (HSM) was used to investigate how ability, motivation, and systematic and heuristic processing lead to risk beliefs and, ultimately, to negative attitudes for individuals receiving translated scientific messages about PFOA. Participants (N = 1,389) came from the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation's Army of Women. Findings indicated that ability, in the form of translated messages, predicted systematic processing, operationalized as knowledge gain, which was negatively associated with formation of risk beliefs that led to negative attitudes toward PFOA. Heuristic processing cues, operationalized as perceived message quality and source credibility, were positively associated with risk beliefs, which predicted negative attitudes about PFOA. Overall, more knowledge and lower literacy messages led to lower perceived risk, while greater involvement and ratings of heuristic cues led to greater risk perceptions. This is an example of a research, translation, and dissemination team effort in which biologists created knowledge, communication scholars translated and tested messages, and advocates were participants and those who disseminated messages.

The effects of heuristic cues, motivation, and ability on systematic processing of information about breast cancer environmental factors.

The heuristic systematic model is used to investigate how ability, motivation, and heuristic message cues predict knowledge scores for individuals receiving messages written for different literacy levels about 3 environmental risk factors for breast cancer. The 3 risk factors were the roles of genetics, progesterone, and ingesting perfluorooctanoic acid in breast cancer risk. In this study, more than 4,000 women participated in an online survey. The results showed support for the hypotheses that ability (measured as education, number of science courses, and confidence in scientific ability) predict knowledge gain and that those individuals who presented with the lower literacy level message had significantly higher knowledge scores across all 3 message topics. There was little support for motivation or heuristic cues as direct predictors of knowledge gain across the 3 message topics, although they served as moderators for the perfluorooctanoic acid topic. The authors provide implications for health communication practitioners.

Action tendency emotions evoked by memorable breast cancer messages and their association with prevention and detection behaviors.

Memorable messages about breast cancer sent by different sources, such as friends and family members, were analyzed for the action tendency emotions that they evoked. Negative emotions of fear, sadness, and anger, and positive emotions of hope and relief were analyzed for their associations with prevention and detection breast cancer behaviors. Messages that evoked fear were significantly more likely to be associated with detection behaviors, whereas messages that evoked relief were significantly less likely to be associated with detection behaviors than messages that did not evoke these emotions. These results are consistent with control theory and also show that friends and family are important sources of memorable messages about breast cancer.

Mothers' Intentions to Teach Adolescent Daughters about Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Activities: The Influence of Self-Efficacy, Response Efficacy, & Personal Responsibility.

The current study examined whether self-efficacy (SE), response efficacy (RE), and personal responsibility (PR) affect mothers' intentions (N=139) to teach their adolescent and pre-adolescent daughters about breast cancer risk reduction measures such as maintaining a healthy diet, exercising on a regular basis, and avoiding chemical exposures. Results showed that both SE and RE were related to mothers' intentions to teach their daughters how to maintain a healthy diet, engage in regular exercise behavior, and avoid chemical exposures. However, PR was not related to any behavioral intention. Implications for breast cancer message development for communication campaigns are discussed.

A comprehensive analysis of breast cancer news coverage in leading media outlets focusing on environmental risks and prevention.

Breast cancer has a high profile in the news media, which are a major source of information for cancer patients and the general public. To determine the nature of breast cancer news coverage available to audiences, particularly on the topics of environmental risks and prevention, this content analysis measured a broad array of dimensions in 231 stories appearing in nine leading newspapers, newsmagazines, and television networks in 2003 and 2004. One fourth of all stories reported on various risks such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use. Very few items specifically addressed risks related to controllable lifestyle practices such as prepubertal obesity or chemical contaminants in the environment. About one third of the stories included prevention content, primarily focusing narrowly on use of pharmaceutical products. Little information described risk reduction via other individual preventive behaviors (e.g., diet, exercise, and smoking), parental protective measures, or collective actions to combat contamination sites. The more traditional categories of prevalence, detection, and treatment were featured in one third, one quarter, and two fifths of the news items, respectively. There were twice as many stories featuring personal narratives as statistical figures, and two thirds of all the news items cited expert medical professionals, researchers, or organizations. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are addressed.

Are "drink responsibly" alcohol campaigns strategically ambiguous?

This article applies the concept of strategic ambiguity in examining viewer responses to brewer-sponsored "responsible drinking" television advertising campaigns. Strategically ambiguous messages are designed to engender diverse interpretations between varied audience segments, and these different selective perceptions should translate into relatively uniform positive corporate images. In this study, teenage and young adult respondents were shown a series of television spots from two leading alcohol companies. As predicted, there was a high degree of diversity in meanings of message content and campaign purpose derived by viewers, particularly among less sophisticated teenagers. Moreover, evaluative ratings of messages and sponsors were generally favorable and more uniform than interpretive responses. The research demonstrates how seemingly prohealth messages can serve to subtly advance both industry sales and public relations interests.

Alcohol advertising exposure and perceptions: links with alcohol expectancies and intentions to drink or drinking in underaged youth and young adults.

This study tests whether the impact of alcohol advertising exposure on intentions to drink and actual consumption is mediated by cognitive responses to advertising messages and positive expectancies about alcohol use. The model was tested using survey data of two important age cohorts, 15 to 20 years (n=608) and 21 to 29 years (n=612). The findings show that alcohol advertising was influential in shaping young people's attitudes and perceptions about alcohol advertising messages. The attitudes and perceptions predicted both positive expectancies and intentions to drink of those under the legal drinking age, but did not affect the young adults' expectancies and consumption. Positive expectancies were powerful predictors of intentions to drink and consumption for both groups. The effects of alcohol advertising on intentions to drink of those aged 15 to 20 years were mediated by cognitive responses to advertising messages and positive expectancies. The mediation effect was not evident among those between 21 and 29 years.

A radio-based approach to promoting gun safety: process and outcome evaluation implications and insights.

Three radio public service announcements (PSA) were created to increase knowledge of 10 gun-safety practices in a mid-Michigan county. Concurrently, a direct-mail coupon highlighting the same gun-safety practices was disseminated to over 70,000 households in the same county. Results of a telephone survey indicate that, compared to unexposed individuals, those who were exposed to the PSA were able to name significantly more gun-safety practices. Specifically, significant differences between those exposed to the PSA versus those not exposed were found for 5 gun-safety practices, as well as for a 4-item index measuring gun locking and storage behaviors, and a 9-item index that included all gun-safety practices.