Brown Richard, Sillence Elizabeth, Pepper Gillian
Psychology Department, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle, NE1 8SG UK.
Z Gesundh Wiss. 2023 Apr 14:1-14. doi: 10.1007/s10389-023-01910-8.
A large number of deaths could be avoided by improving health behaviours. The degree to which people invest in their long-term health is influenced by how much they believe they can control their risk of death. Identifying causes of death believed to be uncontrollable, but likely to occur, may provide actionable targets for health interventions to increase control beliefs and encourage healthier behaviours.
We recruited a nationally representative online sample of 1500 participants in the UK. We assessed perceived control, perceived personal likelihood of death, certainty of risk estimation, and perceived knowledge for 20 causes of death. We also measured overall perceived uncontrollable mortality risk (PUMR) and perceived prevalence for each of the Office for National Statistics' categories of avoidable death.
Risk of death due to cancer was considered highly likely to occur but largely beyond individual control. Cardiovascular disease was considered moderately controllable and a likely cause of death. Drugs and alcohol were perceived as risks both high in control and low in likelihood of death. However, perceptions of control over specific causes of death were found not to predict overall PUMR, with the exception of cardiovascular disease. Finally, our sample substantially overestimated the prevalence of drug and alcohol-related deaths in the UK.
We suggest that more can be done by public health communicators to emphasise the lifestyle and behavioural changes that individuals can make to reduce their general cancer risk. More work is needed to understand the barriers to engaging with preventative behaviours and maintaining a healthy heart. Finally, we call for greater journalistic responsibility when reporting health risks to the public.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01910-8.
改善健康行为可避免大量死亡。人们对自身长期健康的投入程度受其认为自己能控制死亡风险程度的影响。确定被认为无法控制但可能发生的死亡原因，可能为健康干预提供可采取行动的目标，以增强控制信念并鼓励更健康的行为。
我们在英国招募了一个具有全国代表性的1500名参与者的在线样本。我们评估了对20种死亡原因的感知控制、个人死亡可能性感知、风险估计的确定性以及感知知识。我们还测量了总体感知不可控死亡风险（PUMR）以及英国国家统计局各类可避免死亡的感知患病率。
癌症导致的死亡风险被认为极有可能发生，但很大程度上超出个人控制范围。心血管疾病被认为具有一定可控性且是可能的死亡原因。药物和酒精被视为在控制方面风险较高但死亡可能性较低的因素。然而，发现对特定死亡原因的控制感知并不能预测总体PUMR，但心血管疾病除外。最后，我们的样本大幅高估了英国与药物和酒精相关的死亡患病率。
我们建议公共卫生传播者可以做更多工作，强调个人可以做出的生活方式和行为改变，以降低总体癌症风险。需要开展更多工作来了解参与预防行为和保持心脏健康的障碍。最后，我们呼吁在向公众报道健康风险时，新闻工作者应承担更大的责任。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10389-023-01910-8获取的补充材料。
