Often, people are able to recall a message on a particular topic for a long period of time. These memorable messages have the ability to influence behavior when they are recalled from memory long after initial exposure. Knowing the topics and sources of the messages that are remembered about breast cancer can improve the efficacy of future breast cancer outreach. To this end, 359 women completed an online survey about memorable breast cancer messages. Most women (60%) recalled a memorable message, described it, identified its source, and noted whether it had resulted in prevention or detection behaviors. Four categories of message topics emerged: early detection (37.3%), awareness (30.9%), treatment (25.8%), and prevention (6%)). Furthermore, five categories of sources of these memorable messages were found: (media (35.5%), friends (22.2%), family (21.6%), medical professionals (15.2%), and others (5.5%)). The media were a major source of all four topics of messages although family members, friends, and the medical community were major sources for particular message topics, as well. Memorable messages originating from medical professionals were substantially more likely to motivate detection behaviors than prevention behaviors. This research demonstrates that message topic and source both play roles in determining message recall as well as in determining how memorable messages impacted behavior.

Obesity is linked to numerous diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. To address this issue, food and beverage manufacturers as well as health organizations have developed nutrition symbols and logos to be placed on the front of food packages to guide consumers to more healthful food choices. In 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested information on the extent to which consumers notice, use, and understand front-of-package nutrition symbols. In response, this study used eye-tracking technology to explore the degree to which people pay visual attention to the information contained in food nutrition labels and front-of-package nutrition symbols. Results indicate that people with motivation to shop for healthful foods spent significantly more time looking at all available nutrition information compared to people with motivation to shop for products on the basis of taste. Implications of these results for message design, food labeling, and public policy are discussed.

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Objective This experiment tested the effects of an individualized risk-based online mammography decision intervention. The intervention employs exemplification theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion to improve the match between breast cancer risk and mammography intentions. Methods 2,918 women ages 35-49 were stratified into two levels of 10-year breast cancer risk (< 1.5%; ≥ 1.5%) then randomly assigned to one of eight conditions: two comparison conditions and six risk-based intervention conditions that varied according to a 2 (amount of content: brief vs. extended) × 3 (format: expository vs. untailored exemplar [example case] vs. tailored exemplar) design. Outcomes included mammography intentions and accuracy of perceived breast cancer risk. Results Risk-based intervention conditions improved the match between objective risk estimates and perceived risk, especially for high-numeracy women with a 10-year breast cancer risk <1.5%. For women with a risk < 1.5%, exemplars improved accuracy of perceived risk and all risk-based interventions increased intentions to wait until age 50 to screen. Conclusion A risk-based mammography intervention improved accuracy of perceived risk and the match between objective risk estimates and mammography intentions. Practice Implications Interventions could be applied in online or clinical settings to help women understand risk and make mammography decisions.

Memorable messages about breast cancer sent by different sources, such as friends and family members, were analyzed for the action tendency emotions that they evoked. Negative emotions of fear, sadness, and anger, and positive emotions of hope and relief were analyzed for their associations with prevention and detection breast cancer behaviors. Messages that evoked fear were significantly more likely to be associated with detection behaviors, whereas messages that evoked relief were significantly less likely to be associated with detection behaviors than messages that did not evoke these emotions. These results are consistent with control theory and also show that friends and family are important sources of memorable messages about breast cancer. Keywords Memorable Messages; Action Tendency Emotions; Breast Cancer Prevention; Breast Cancer DetectionCancer is one of the greatest health concerns in the United States. Vast numbers of people are affected by cancer, and breast cancer is one of the most prevalent types. Most American women will have exposure to the disease directly or indirectly throughout their lifetimes (Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 2007). A wide variety of messages are created and disseminated to provide information regarding this disease. These messages can come from medical personnel, family, friends, the internet, or mass media campaigns. They are important because they often contain information regarding breast cancer awareness, detection, prevention, and treatment that women and their loved ones can use to improve health behaviors and possibly save lives (Pribble, et al., 2006). Awareness, detection, prevention, and treatment messages can only be effective, however, if women are able to recall them. Some messages that people recall are memorable messages that are "remembered for extremely long periods of time and which people perceive as a major influence on the course of their lives" (Knapp, Stohl, & Reardon, 1981, p. 27 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptResearch guided by Control Theory has also been conducted to determine what types of memorable messages are utilized as guides to action 2004;Smith, Ellis, & Yoo, 2001).Another line of research has found that evoking certain discrete emotions can result in increased behavioral intentions and actual behaviors (Lazarus, 1991;Nabi, 2002). The research in this area is still in its formative stages, so it is yet to be determined which emotions consistently result in particular behaviors. Dillard and Nabi (2006), in their discussion of emotions associated specifically with cancer-related messages, reasoned that these messages can evoke a variety of emotions such as fear, sadness, and disgust, and that these emotions do have the potential to affect persuasion. Little is known, however, about how memorable messages and emotions interact to impact behaviors. It is reasoned here that if a particular emotion is evoked by a certain type of message, the message may become more memorable and the desired actio...