Chen Jie, Yang Yang, Du Fangjuan, Li Jie
School of Geography and Environmental Sciences (School of Karst Science), Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China.
School of Tourism and Air Service, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jul 31;16:1566773. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1566773. eCollection 2025.
Health information avoidance (HIA) creates serious health risks, particularly for patients with serious health problems such as breast cancer. Although existing research has explained how emotional responses affect HIA from several perspectives, little attention has been paid to how perceived emotional synchrony (PES), as an antecedent, influences HIA behavior, especially in the context of breast cancer patients participating in ritualistic interactive activities. In this study, we constructed a moderated chain mediation model drawn on the Interactive Ritual Chains (IRCs) theory, combined with social cognitive theory to test the relationship between PES and HIA behaviors in cancer patients. At the same time, the important individual characteristic of cancer staging has been overlooked in studies of boundary mechanisms in HIA. We further explored the moderating role of cancer staging.
We assembled a sample of 302 female patients with breast cancer who participated in ritual interaction activities in five Grade A tertiary hospitals in China. In this study, regression analysis was conducted using SPSS 23.0 and MPlus 8.3 to explore the relationship between PES, positive emotions, coping self-efficacy, and HIA variables to test the hypotheses.
Empirical analyses revealed that PES was negatively correlated with HIA in the context of breast cancer patients participating in ritual interaction activities. Additionally, positive emotions and coping self-efficacy acted as mediators between PES and HIA. Furthermore, positive emotions and coping self-efficacy played a chain-mediation role in the relationship between PES and HIA during ritual interaction activities. Disease stage significantly moderated the strength of these chain-mediated effects, with the chain-mediated influence of positive emotions and coping self-efficacy between PES and HIA being significantly stronger in patients with advanced breast cancer.
The study constructed a quantitative conceptual model of how PES influences HIA in cancer patients. Cancer staging was shown to have a moderating effect on this mechanism, which enriches theoretical explanations of HIA behavior. In practice, promoting PES through structured ritual interactions can strengthen emotional connections among breast cancer patients. Developing stage-specific support strategies may facilitate more personalized interventions. Future research should examine the multilevel mechanisms of ritual interaction and the situational role of HIA.
健康信息回避（HIA）会带来严重的健康风险，尤其是对于患有乳腺癌等严重健康问题的患者。尽管现有研究已从多个角度解释了情绪反应如何影响健康信息回避，但很少有人关注作为前因的感知情绪同步性（PES）如何影响健康信息回避行为，特别是在乳腺癌患者参与仪式性互动活动的背景下。在本研究中，我们基于互动仪式链（IRC）理论构建了一个有调节的链式中介模型，并结合社会认知理论来检验癌症患者中PES与健康信息回避行为之间的关系。同时，在健康信息回避的边界机制研究中，癌症分期这一重要的个体特征被忽视了。我们进一步探讨了癌症分期的调节作用。
我们选取了302名在中国五家三级甲等医院参与仪式互动活动的女性乳腺癌患者作为样本。在本研究中，使用SPSS 23.0和MPlus 8.3进行回归分析，以探讨PES、积极情绪、应对自我效能感和健康信息回避变量之间的关系，从而检验假设。
实证分析表明，在乳腺癌患者参与仪式互动活动的背景下，PES与健康信息回避呈负相关。此外，积极情绪和应对自我效能感在PES与健康信息回避之间起中介作用。此外，在仪式互动活动中，积极情绪和应对自我效能感在PES与健康信息回避之间起链式中介作用。疾病分期显著调节了这些链式中介效应的强度，在晚期乳腺癌患者中，积极情绪和应对自我效能感在PES与健康信息回避之间的链式中介影响显著更强。
该研究构建了一个关于PES如何影响癌症患者健康信息回避的定量概念模型。研究表明癌症分期对这一机制具有调节作用，这丰富了对健康信息回避行为的理论解释。在实践中，通过结构化的仪式互动来促进PES可以加强乳腺癌患者之间的情感联系。制定针对特定阶段的支持策略可能有助于实现更个性化的干预。未来的研究应考察仪式互动的多层次机制以及健康信息回避的情境作用。
