Shepherd Lee, Smith Michael A
a Department of Psychology , Northumbria University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.
b Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences , University of Western Australia , Perth , Australia.
Psychol Health. 2017 Jul;32(7):876-894. doi: 10.1080/08870446.2017.1307375. Epub 2017 Mar 28.
This study assessed the extent to which social-cognitive factors (attitude, subjective norm and perceived control) and the fear of a positive test result predict sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening intentions and subsequent behaviour.
Study 1 (N = 85) used a longitudinal design to assess the factors that predict STI screening intention and future screening behaviour measured one month later at Time 2. Study 2 (N = 102) used an experimental design to determine whether the relationship between fear and screening varied depending on whether STI or HIV screening was being assessed both before and after controlling for social-cognitive factors.
Across the studies the outcome measures were sexual health screening.
In both studies, the fear of having an STI positively predicted STI screening intention. In Study 1, fear, but not the social-cognitive factors, also predicted subsequent STI screening behaviour. In Study 2, the fear of having HIV did not predict HIV screening intention, but attitude negatively and response efficacy positively predicted screening intention.
This study highlights the importance of considering the nature of the health condition when assessing the role of fear on health promotion.
本研究评估了社会认知因素（态度、主观规范和感知控制）以及对阳性检测结果的恐惧在多大程度上预测性传播感染（STI）筛查意愿及后续行为。
研究1（N = 85）采用纵向设计，评估预测STI筛查意愿及1个月后在时间2测量的未来筛查行为的因素。研究2（N = 102）采用实验设计，以确定在控制社会认知因素前后，恐惧与筛查之间的关系是否因评估的是STI还是HIV筛查而有所不同。
在各项研究中，结局指标均为性健康筛查。
在两项研究中，对感染STI的恐惧均正向预测STI筛查意愿。在研究1中，恐惧而非社会认知因素也预测了后续的STI筛查行为。在研究2中，对感染HIV的恐惧并未预测HIV筛查意愿，但态度呈负向预测，而反应效能呈正向预测筛查意愿。
本研究强调了在评估恐惧对健康促进的作用时考虑健康状况性质的重要性。
