Showing papers by "Stephen Sutton published in 1999"

A comparative test of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior in the prediction of condom use intentions in a national sample of English young people.

Abstract: Based on the theories of reasoned action (TRA) and planned behavior (TPB), predictors of condom use intentions were investigated in 949 young people (16-24 years of age) from a national survey conducted in England. Contrary to expectations, the TPB did not perform significantly better than the TRA, even among women. Measures of past behavior were the best predictors of intentions and attenuated the effects of attitude and subjective norm. There was only weak evidence for the multiplicative assumption underlying the TRA and TPB. Although the TRA components were not the strongest predictors, the beliefs on which they are based are potentially amenable to change through information-based intervention programs. A number of practical suggestions for developing intervention strategies are offered.

The transtheoretical model of behaviour change: Are the stages qualitatively different?

Abstract: Intention to stop smoking was studied by applying the stage variable from the transtheoretical model and a traditional “continuous” 7-point intention measure. Four hundred and Twenty one respondent...

Does publicity about cancer screening raise fear of cancer? Randomised trial of the psychological effect of information about cancer screening

Abstract: Critics of cancer screening have suggested that the publicity associated with it can provide people with a new health worry.1 After a mass media heart disease campaign in Norway a national survey showed that 17% of those who had seen the campaign materials were worried about heart disease and that these people were most likely to make behaviour changes.2 No comparable data on publicity about cancer screening are available.3 We evaluated the impact of publicity about a new bowel cancer screening programme, comparing a group who had been sent information about the programme with a control group who had not. Participants aged 55-64 were identified from family health services authority registers and confirmed by their general practitioner to be suitable for screening for bowel cancer. This study group is part of a randomised controlled trial of flexible sigmoidoscopy for the prevention of bowel cancer.4 …

How accurate are smokers’ perceptions of risk?

Abstract: This paper highlights some of the key findings from an ESRC-funded research project on smokers’ perceptions of risk, and compares them with other relevant studies. The paper is organised in terms of the two most common ways of assessing people's perceptions of the health risks of smoking, namely to ask them to give a numerical risk estimate or to compare their own risk with that of the average person or other people. The overall picture is rather confusing. Studies that have used numerical risk questions sometimes find substantial overestimation of risks and sometimes substantial under-estimation. Research in which smokers compare their risk with that of other smokers has also yielded inconsistent findings. Studies that have asked smokers to compare themselves with other people or with non-smokers are more consistent in showing that smokers tend to under-estimate the risks. Research from both the numerical and comparative risk traditions shows fairly consistently that smokers acknowledge that the...

Comments on : Project MATCH: matching alcohol treatments to client heterogeneity

Abstract: of Project MATCH Research reports from the past 25 years have suggested that treatment outcomes can be improved by carefully matching individuals, based upon their personal characteristics, to specific therapeutic approaches. In a 1989 report, the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences strongly advocated research on patient-treatment matching. Project MATCH was designed to test the general assumption that matching would improve treatment outcomes, and in particular to test specific matching effects hypothesized on the basis of prior matching findings (Project MATCH Research Group, 1993).

Perception of Health Risks: A Selective Review of the Psychological Literature

Abstract: This paper discusses some of the key findings from psychological research on health risk perceptions, using smoking and sexual behaviour as examples Research on dimensions of risk has attempted to relate perceptions of risk to characteristics such as perceived controllability and voluntariness This approach has focused on technological risks, so application to behavioural risks is necessarily speculative Research on accuracy of risk perceptions shows that people's estimates are subject to a number of biases Nevertheless, recent research shows that smokers in Britain are not unrealistically optimistic about the personal health risks of smoking By contrast, HIV/AIDS consistently evokes relatively large optimistic biases Psychological models of the relationship between risk perception and behaviour identify a number of barriers to behaviour change Recent evidence suggests that the most important barriers to more consistent use of condoms are low perceived risk and high perceived costs of the recommended action, in particular reduction of sexual pleasure The main barriers to stopping smoking are low confidence of success and high perceived costs associated with unpleasant withdrawal symptoms Although substantial progress has been made in understanding health risk perceptions, there are many important questions that remain to be answered