Spit, Disgust, and Parasite Stress Theory: A Message Experiment.

Public health interventions targeting coughing and spitting during the Tuberculosis and 1918 flu epidemics were largely successful. Specifically, public health officials' messaging framed the behavior of spitting as repulsive and endangering to others, prompting an elicitation of disgust. Anti-spitting campaigns - messaging that focuses on the threat of spit or sputum - have long been common during pandemics and manifested once again to combat the spread of COVID-19. Yet, few scholars have theorized if and how anti-spitting campaigns function to change behavior. One possibility is parasite stress theory, which posits that human behavior is driven by a desire to avoid pathogenic threats like spit. The application of these types of disgust appeals in public health messaging remains understudied and warrants exploration. To test the applicability of the parasite stress theory, our message experiment with US adults (N = 488) examined reactions to anti-spit messages that varied in visual disgust (low and high). For more highly educated respondents, the high disgust appeal directly decreased spitting intentions, and this relationship was stronger for individuals with higher levels of pathogen and moral disgust. Given the importance of public messaging during pandemics, future research should continue to examine the efficacy and theoretical underpinnings of specific disgust appeals.

Temporal frames, temporal focus, and behavioral expectations: The persuasive impact of near and distant threats.

BACKGROUND: Ultraviolet (UV) photography and photoaging visuals make hidden sun damage visible to the naked eye, granting the potential to create messages that vary in temporal dimensionality. As UV photos depict immediate skin damage, the photo communicated that exposure in sun causes invisible damage to the young truck driver (near temporal frame) and visible damage (e.g., wrinkles) to the old truck driver (distant temporal frame). OBJECTIVE: The current study examines the moderating effects of loss/gain frames and temporality variables on the relationship between temporal framing and sun safe behavioral expectations. METHOD: U.S. adults (N = 897) were assigned to a 2 (near/distant temporal frame) × 2 (gain/loss frame) between-participants experiment. RESULTS: The loss frame triggered greater fear compared to the gain frame, this fear forms an indirect path where loss frames increase fear and fear increases changes in sun safe behavioral expectations. Participants exposed to the distant frame had increased behavior expectations if either of the two temporality variables (CFC - future or current focus) were low. Participants with low temporality indicators (i.e., CFC - future, current focus, or future focus) exposed to the gain frame had increased behavior expectations. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate the potential utility of temporal frames as a tool for designing strategic health messages.

Visual Tailoring and Skin Cancer Prevention: Comparing Personalized, Stock, and Non-Ultraviolet Images.

Past research has demonstrated that ultraviolet (UV) photos - which reveal skin damage as dark patches - can increase preventive behaviors. Emerging camera technology facilitates personalized UV photos for interventions, yet little is known about how personalized photos compare to other visuals and what cognitive or affective mechanism explains their persuasive impact. To engage this research line, the current study compared the impact of personalized UV (PUV), stock UV (SUV), and non-UV (NUV) photos and, to advance theorizing on fear appeals, explored underlying affective mechanisms including physiological fear. A sample of 169 undergraduate students participated in a 3 (Visual conditions: PUV, SUV, NUV) × 2 (Efficacy conditions: No efficacy and Efficacy) between-participants message experiment on a computer equipped with iMotions 6.4 that tracked real-time physiological responses (facial expression and skin conductance). Results demonstrated that PUV skin damage photos produced significantly greater self-reported fear and positive valence (detected by facial expression analysis) than NUV and SUV visuals. Mediation analysis demonstrated that fear had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between exposure to PUV skin damage visuals and behavior expectations.

Developing skin cancer education materials for darker skin populations: crowdsourced design, message targeting, and acral lentiginous melanoma.

Despite decreased susceptibility, darker skin individuals who develop melanoma have worse survival. This disparity in melanoma mortality is the largest for any cancer, and partly driven by a lack of patient education materials targeted to darker skin populations in whom acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is the most common subtype. To address this communication disparity, the current study reports a multi-phase design process that leverages crowdsourcing and message testing to develop ALM-focused patient education materials for darker skin populations. Crowdsourced design was utilized to develop a pool of designs (phase 1), the pool was narrowed and thematically analyzed (phase 2), and select designs were evaluated via a message experiment (N = 1877). For darker skin populations, designs that depicted people enhanced knowledge of ALM through message memorability. The current study engages melanoma disparities by providing ALM patient education materials for darker skin populations vetted via a multi-phase process.

Explicitness, disgust, and safe sex behavior: A message experiment with U.S. adults.

Sexual health risks are challenging to communicate given the potential negative reactions of target audiences to explicit language. Grounded in research on pathogen avoidance, the current study examined the impact of varying levels of explicit language on message perceptions and safe sex behavioral intentions. U.S. adults (N = 498) were randomly assigned to view messages detailing pandemic safe sexual behavior that contained either low or high levels of explicit language. High explicit language significantly increased perceived disgust which also indirectly linked high explicit language with increased intentions to engage in safe sex behavior. Individual difference variables moderated the impact of message explicitness; dispositional hygiene disgust moderated the impact of high explicit, hygiene-focused messages on safe sex intentions. Those with relatively low levels of dispositional disgust were more positively impacted by explicit language. The results suggest the value of increased message explicitness for sexual health communication and have implications for pathogen avoidance behaviors, the behavioral immune system, and dispositional and affective forms of disgust.

Eye-Tracking and Adolescent Interest in Alcohol Responsibility Messages: The Message Matters.

OBJECTIVE: Through the use of eye-tracking technology, this study explores the efficacy of current alcohol responsibility messages viewed by adolescents and proposes the development of new alcohol warning message design. METHOD: An adolescent sample (N = 121; 72 males) was shown 14 advertisements (4 alcohol, 10 non-alcohol) in randomized order featuring messages modified by type size, type contrast, and message content (a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design). RESULTS: Results suggested that modifying message content to include direct language and a consequence enhances recall and attention to alcohol responsibility messages among adolescents. No significant differences in attentional outcomes were observed for messages that included variances in type size or type contrast. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, to increase attention to and recall of alcohol responsibility messages, the greatest efficacy lies in varying the message itself, irrespective of size or contrast.

Does it matter if a story character lives or dies?: a message experiment comparing survivor and death narratives.

OBJECTIVE: In narratives, characters often face threats where they either live (survivor narratives) or die (death narratives). Both outcomes have the potential to persuade, and are frequently utilised in mass communication campaigns, yet more research is needed examining the relative effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of each strategy. DESIGN: U.S. adults (N = 1010) were randomly assigned to a 2 (survivor, death) × 2 (non-foreshadowed, foreshadowed) × 2 (within-study replication: narrative 1, narrative 2) between-participants experiment with melanoma stories as stimuli. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Intentions to engage in sun safe behaviour and skin self-examination behaviour were assessed in the pre- and posttest, and then transformed into change scores. RESULTS: Death narratives increased sun safe behaviour intentions. Consistent with the entertainment overcoming resistance model, foreshadowed death narratives were found to increase sun safe behaviour intentions via increased transportation and decreased counterarguing. CONCLUSION: Compared to survivor narratives, death narratives increase intentions to engage in sun safe behaviour. The findings offer support for character death as a key feature of narrative persuasion, and narrative transportation and counterarguing as important mediational pathways.

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.S. adults (N = 2,219) completed survey questions assessing CIO, dispositional reactance, defensive/information avoidance, sun safe behavior, and knowledge. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that CIO was discriminant from dispositional reactance, information avoidance, and defensive avoidance, and individuals with higher overload were more likely to tan, less likely to have an annual checkup with a healthcare provider, and less knowledgeable about sun safe protection. Unexpectedly, individuals with higher CIO were more likely to wear wide-brimmed hats. CONCLUSION: CIO is distinct from reactance and avoidance, and related to performance/knowledge of sun safe behaviors, and receiving annual healthcare checkups. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The correlation between CIO and sun safe behavior differs by behavior; a pattern which suggests practitioners might benefit from adapting their communication strategy based on the target population and behavior.

Obstacles to skin self-examination: are frontier adults inclined abstainers?

Individuals residing in U.S. frontier counties have limited access to dermatology care and higher melanoma mortality rates. Given these limitations, frontier residents rely disproportionately on skin self-examinations (SSE) for early detection of melanoma, though little is known about their SSE behaviors and barriers to conducting SSEs. The goal of the present study was to identify obstacles to SSE performance via a survey of adults (N = 107) living in a U.S. frontier county. Approximately 43% of participants were classified as inclined abstainers - individuals who intended to perform SSE, but failed to follow through. Compared to those who did follow through, inclined abstainers were more likely to be hindered by twelve barriers, including forgetting, letting other tasks get in the way of SSE, and struggling to identify a good time or routine for SSE performance. The barriers to action for these inclined abstainers are modifiable - for example, not remembering to do it - and well positioned for a behavioral intervention.

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. Older adults (N = 209) recruited from eight different worksites completed a survey measuring fear appeal constructs and enactment of colorectal cancer-related joking. Results of a moderated mediation analysis suggest that men were more likely to joke about colorectal cancer than women, particularly if they perceived significant threat but had limited self-efficacy, signifying fear control. Results support prior fear appeal research, suggesting that an increase in joking behavior concerning colorectal cancer may be indicative of screening avoidance, and describe belief-based mechanisms that explain differences between biological sex and joking.

Do ultraviolet photos increase sun safe behavior expectations via fear? A randomized controlled trial in a sample of U.S. adults.

Ultraviolet (UV) photos reveal the world in a different light spectrum, including damage that is caused by UV light. In the context of skin cancer control, UV photos have the potential to communicate fear because they reveal underlying skin damage. U.S. adults (N = 2219) were assigned to a 5 (visual: UV skin damage, sun exposure, sunburn, photoaging, and mole removal) × 3 (replication: three examples of each visual condition) × 4 (efficacy: no efficacy, text only, visual, visual + text) randomized controlled trial. Compared to all other visual conditions combined, UV skin damage visuals generated greater fear which triggered increased sun safe behavior expectations. Compared with other visual conditions separately, only mole removal visuals produced equivalent fear as UV skin damage visuals. Visual efficacy conditions appeared to nullify rather than magnify the indirect path through fear. The results suggest one way UV images impact sun safe behavioral expectations is via fear and that researchers should continue to examine the position of fear in fear appeal theories.

Emerging applications of eye-tracking technology in dermatology.

Eye-tracking technology has been used within a multitude of disciplines to provide data linking eye movements to visual processing of various stimuli (i.e., x-rays, situational positioning, printed information, and warnings). Despite the benefits provided by eye-tracking in allowing for the identification and quantification of visual attention, the discipline of dermatology has yet to see broad application of the technology. Notwithstanding dermatologists' heavy reliance upon visual patterns and cues to discriminate between benign and atypical nevi, literature that applies eye-tracking to the study of dermatology is sparse; and literature specific to patient-initiated behaviors, such as skin self-examination (SSE), is largely non-existent. The current article provides a review of eye-tracking research in various medical fields, culminating in a discussion of current applications and advantages of eye-tracking for dermatology research.

Positive emotion communication: Fostering well-being at end of life.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about positive emotion communication (PEC) in end-of-life care. This study aims to identify types and patterns of PEC among hospice nurses, caregivers, and patients. METHODS: A coding system based on positive psychology theory was applied as a secondary analysis to audio recordings of hospice nurse home visits with cancer patients and family caregivers, collected as part of a prospective longitudinal study. Eighty recordings (4 visits from 20 triads) were coded for humor, connection, praise, positive focus, gratitude, taking joy/savoring, and perfunctory statements. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics revealed the greatest proportion of PEC was made by nurses. Humor was most frequently used across all speakers. Cluster analysis revealed four PEC visit types: Savor/Take Joy; Humor; Perfunctory; and Other-focused Expressions of Positive Emotions. Linear mixed effect regression was used to estimate the trajectory of PEC over time, but no significant change was found. CONCLUSION: We found that positive emotions are common in nurse, caregiver and patient communication at end-of-life and do not decline closer to death. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: This study is among the first to explore PEC at end-of-life, and offers a way to bring strengths-based approaches into end of life communication research.

Do Pattern-Focused Visuals Improve Skin Self-Examination Performance? Explicating the Visual Skill Acquisition Model.

Skin self-examination (SSE) consists of routinely checking the body for atypical moles that might be cancerous. Identifying atypical moles is a visual task; thus, SSE training materials utilize pattern-focused visuals to cultivate this skill. Despite widespread use, researchers have yet to explicate how pattern-focused visuals cultivate visual skill. Using eye tracking to capture the visual scanpaths of a sample of laypersons (N = 92), the current study employed a 2 (pattern: ABCDE vs. ugly duckling sign [UDS]) × 2 (presentation: photorealistic images vs. illustrations) factorial design to assess whether and how pattern-focused visuals can increase layperson accuracy in identifying atypical moles. Overall, illustrations resulted in greater sensitivity, while photos resulted in greater specificity. The UDS × photorealistic condition showed greatest specificity. For those in the photo condition with high self-efficacy, UDS increased specificity directly. For those in the photo condition with self-efficacy levels at the mean or lower, there was a conditional indirect effect such that these individuals spent a larger amount of their viewing time observing the atypical moles, and time on target was positively related to specificity. Illustrations provided significant gains in specificity for those with low-to-moderate self-efficacy by increasing total fixation time on the atypical moles. Findings suggest that maximizing visual processing efficiency could enhance existing SSE training techniques.

Theorizing Foreshadowed Death Narratives: Examining the Impact of Character Death on Narrative Processing and Skin Self-Exam Intentions.

Narratives are common in health campaigns and interventions, with many depicting individuals battling a particular illness or disease. Past research has focused primarily on the form and effects of survivor stories, but considerably less attention has been devoted to stories in which 1 or more of the central characters passes away. The goal of the current study was to compare the relative persuasive impact of survivor and death narratives in influencing skin prevention behaviors and to test narrative mediators that might explicate underlying mechanisms of effect. To that end, adults (N = 635, M age = 32.43 [SD = 11.23]) were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 narrative intervention conditions in an online message experiment. Participants read 1 of 2 stories about a person with melanoma (Rusty or Diane) that was manipulated as a narrative depicting the survival, death, or foreshadowed death of the main character. Foreshadowed death narratives increased intentions to perform a skin self-exam (SSE), a relationship that was mediated by narrative transportation and perceived SSE benefits. The results support the central postulate of narrative transportation theory and the utility of using foreshadowed death narratives in communication-based interventions designed to increase SSE frequency.

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, Mage = 55.56, SD = 4.24) were recruited to complete a survey measuring seeking, scanning, cancer information overload, and cancer worry. Most participants were high-scan/seekers (40.2%) followed by low-scan/seekers (21.1%), high-scan/no seekers (19.6%), and low-scan/no seekers (19.1%). Low-scan/no seekers had significantly higher cancer information overload compared to all other groups, consistent with the postulate that overload and seeking/scanning are negatively related. Low-scan/no seekers and high-scan/seekers both exhibited higher cancer worry severity, consistent with past research suggesting that cancer worry explains high levels of activity/inactivity.

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). METHODS: Two studies were conducted to identify and verify the MITS factor structure as well as assess construct validity. Study 1 was conducted at 5 geographically diverse universities in the United States. Study 2 was conducted by using a national online sample in the United States. RESULTS: Results from study 1 specified the factor structure of the MITS. Results from study 2 suggest that a one-point increase in the MITS measure corresponds with using indoor tanning beds 11 more times in the past year. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that moodbased tanning motivations are a strong predictor of indoor tanning intentions and behavior. Further, they suggest that health behavior researchers and healthcare practitioners can use the MITS to assess the extent to which mood-based motivations impact indoor tanning bed use.

Framing Obesity: How News Frames Shape Attributions and Behavioral Responses.

Based on a public health model of obesity, this study set out to examine whether a news article reporting the obesity issue in a societal versus individual frame would increase perceptions of societal responsibilities for the obesity problem and motivate responsibility-taking behaviors. Responsibility-taking behaviors were examined at 3 levels: personal, interpersonal, and societal. Data from a Web-based experiment revealed significant framing effects on behaviors via causal and treatment responsibility attributions. The societal frame increased societal causal and treatment attribution, which led to greater likelihoods of interpersonal and social responsibility-taking behaviors as well as personal behaviors. Our findings suggest that news framing can be an effective venue for raising awareness of obesity as a societal issue and mobilizing collective efforts.

Addressing Methodological Challenges in Large Communication Data Sets: Collecting and Coding Longitudinal Interactions in Home Hospice Cancer Care.

In this article, we present strategies for collecting and coding a large longitudinal communication data set collected across multiple sites, consisting of more than 2000 hours of digital audio recordings from approximately 300 families. We describe our methods within the context of implementing a large-scale study of communication during cancer home hospice nurse visits, but this procedure could be adapted to communication data sets across a wide variety of settings. This research is the first study designed to capture home hospice nurse-caregiver communication, a highly understudied location and type of communication event. We present a detailed example protocol encompassing data collection in the home environment, large-scale, multisite secure data management, the development of theoretically-based communication coding, and strategies for preventing coder drift and ensuring reliability of analyses. Although each of these challenges has the potential to undermine the utility of the data, reliability between coders is often the only issue consistently reported and addressed in the literature. Overall, our approach demonstrates rigor and provides a "how-to" example for managing large, digitally recorded data sets from collection through analysis. These strategies can inform other large-scale health communication research.