 |
| Research article summary (published 27 Feb 2009): |
Raising awareness of hypertension risk through a web-based framing intervention: does consideration of future consequences make a difference?
Full Abstract
Approximately, one third of people with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition. However, little research has explored the efficacy of interventions to raise awareness of this serious problem. This study had two main objectives: (1) To explore the efficacy of a web-based intervention aimed at raising awareness of the risks associated with high blood pressure and hypertension; (2) To examine the role of the personality variable, consideration of future consequences (CFC) in influencing the effectiveness of the intervention. A 2 (message framing: loss vs. gain) x 2 (function: prevention vs. detection) x 2 (CFC: low vs. high) between-subjects design was employed. Participants were randomly allocated to read one of four messages on a health website. Time spent reading additional health information was utilised as the dependent variable. A significant message frame by CFC interaction was found indicating a loss frame advantage for participants high in CFC and a gain frame advantage for those low in CFC. After reading the loss frame, participants high in CFC spent almost twice as long as those low in CFC reading the additional health information, whereas after reading the gain frame, participants low in CFC read longer than those high in CFC. This study demonstrates that a simple, theory-driven, web-based intervention has the capacity to increase information seeking about hypertension and highlights the importance of tailoring health communication messages to individual characteristics in order to maximise their effectiveness.
Author information
Author/s: O'Connor, Daryl B (DB); Warttig, Sheryl (S); Conner, Mark (M); Lawton, Rebecca (R);
Affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK. d.b.o'connor(-atsign-)leeds.ac.uk
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial
Journal: Psychology, health & medicine (Psychol Health Med), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 14 (issue 2) : pp 213-9
Dates: Created 2009/02/23; Completed 2009/06/29;
PMID: 19235080, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/29/2009, IMS Date: 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):
Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.
This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.
MeSH headings (categories)
This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.
Related articles
This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.
See a large map of 100+ related articles.