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...