Perceived susceptibility and self-protective behavior: A field experiment to encourage home radon testing.

Abstract

Tested in a field experiment (N = 647) the hypothesis that perceptions of personal susceptibility are important in decisions to test one's home for radioactive radon gas. Experimental group subjects received a personal telephone call to tell them they lived in a high-risk area and a personal letter to reinforce the telephone message. After the intervention, experimental subjects were significantly more likely than minimal-treatment subjects to acknowledge the possibility of high radon levels in their homes. Perceptions of susceptibility and illness severity were significantly correlated with orders of radon test kits and with testing intentions. Nevertheless, there were no differences between groups in test orders or intentions. Results are discussed in terms of the difficulty of getting people to acknowledge susceptibility and the factors other than risk perceptions that influence self-protective behavior.

A model of the precaution adoption process: Evidence from home radon testing.

“…The stage approach has led to hypotheses about interventions that may facilitate transitions between stages, with the interventions tailored to the stage at which a person is located (Sandman & Weinstein, 1991). Whether these interventions will be successful in encouraging radon testing remains to be studied.…”

“…The answers to this survey provide cross-sectional data concerning beliefs and testing. (The procedures and instruments used are described in Weinstein et al, 1991, but the data from those respondents who had a test completed or in progress have not been reported previously. )…”

“…Those who indicated in the ALA2 survey that they had not tested became part of an experiment to encourage radon testing (if they could be contacted by telephone; Weinstein et al, 1991). Half of this group received a brief telephone call and a letter thanking them for their participation and indicating that they would be sent general radon information.…”

Establishing and maintaining healthy environments: Toward a social ecology of health promotion.

“…In such instances, "passive" environmental interventions for health promotion, which require little or no effort by the target individuals (e.g., designing buildings without elevators to encourage physical activity, or providing high-quality food facilities and nutritious meals for employees) may be more cost-effective than "active" interventions that require voluntary and sustained adherence to health-promotive regimens (Williams, 1982). Similarly, the use of environmental resources for health promotion (e.g., vehicle safety belts, bicycle helmets, physical fitness facilities, testing kits to assess radon contamination in homes, and Velcro equipment fasteners to reduce injuries during earthquakes) may be undermined by certain psychological orientations, such as fatalistic cultural beliefs about illness and injury, pessimistic explanatory styles, and perceived invulnerability to health threats (e.g., Becker, 1990;Geller, 1984;Peterson, Seligman, & Vaillant, 1988;Rippetoe & Rogers, 1987;Sallis & Hovell, 1990;Weinstein, Sandman, & Roberts, 1991). Thus, before substantial resources are committed to the implementation of health-promotion programs, a variety of spatial, temporal, organizational, and motivational constraints on their effectiveness must be identified and resolved.…”

Measuring Perceptions of Breast Cancer Risk

“…For instance, many studies have assessed risk perception to test models that posit an association between risk perception and health behavior (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Other research assesses risk perception to detect errors and biases in risk judgments (15)(16)(17)(18), to assess the association between risk judgments and emotion (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), and to increase the accuracy of people's risk perceptions (11,(26)(27)(28). In sum, several important and large bodies of research depend on obtaining accurate assessments of people's risk perception.…”