The primary objectives of this project are to:
1. Examine the feasibility of using focus groups to develop different types of messages to promote cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women who have not been screened for cervical cancer during the three years prior to study participation. 2. Begin to examine how different types of messages might interact with cognitive and motivational individual difference variables to influence outcomes relevant to cervical screening among Hispanic women who have not been screened for cervical cancer during the three years prior to study participation.Specific but exploratory objectives of this project are to:
3. Examine whether need for cognition (NC), the dispositional preference for engaging in (or avoiding) effortful cognitive processing of information, and approach/avoidance orientation (i.e., BAS/BIS) interact with different types of cervical cancer screening messages manipulated in terms of emotionality (primarily fact- vs. emotion-based) and framing (gain-framed vs. loss-framed) to influence outcomes relevant to cervical screening. NC reflects the dispositional preference for engaging in (or avoiding) effortful cognitive processing of information. BAS/BIS reflects an individual's dispositional sensitivity to reward and punishment. In addition to traditional questionnaires, outcomes will be assessed using "implicit" cognitive psychological measures, as considerable evidence suggests they yield unique information that predicts outcome. Explicit outcomes include: intention to be screened, risk perception, knowledge, attitudes toward screening, and message evaluations . Implicit outcomes include: implicit fear of disease, and implicit attitudes toward cervical screening.
4. Examine potential main effects of NC, BAS/BIS, and message type (factual vs. emotional and gain- vs. loss-framed) on each of the explicit and implicit outcome measures. We will also examine associations between the explicit and implicit outcome measures. |