ABSTRACT It is often claimed that interventions aimed at promoting healthy behaviors tend to be most effective among people whose behavior least needs to change and least effective among those most in need of change. If true, the inevitable result would be widening disparities in health engagement between these groups. Using a between-subjects experimental design, this study examined the effects of a directive advocacy message based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on groups with different preexisting levels of engagement in healthy behaviors. The results confirmed that, compared to effects of a non-persuasive control message, the TPB-based message produced greater disparities in engagement between the group lowest in preexisting health engagement and groups with greater preexisting levels of engagement. The study suggests well-intended public health initiatives may seem to provide a net benefit to society but, in fact, actually contribute to the persistence of the disparities they attempt to address.

中文翻译：

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公共卫生运动如何促进公共卫生差距

摘要人们通常认为，旨在促进健康行为的干预措施在行为最不需要改变的人中最有效，而在最需要改变的人中最不有效。如果为真，那么不可避免的结果将是扩大这些群体之间在卫生参与方面的差距。本研究使用受试者之间的实验设计，研究了基于计划行为理论（TPB）的指导性倡导信息对健康行为已有不同参与水平的群体的影响。结果证实，与无说服力的控制信息的效果相比，基于TPB的信息在已有健康参与程度最低的人群与具有较高参与水平的人群之间的参与差异更大。