ABSTRACT

Limited awareness and low uptake rate of Human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention strategies among females require the development of more effective educational interventions. Regulatory focus theory posits the matching of framing valence with the recipients’ regulatory focus increases persuasiveness. Following regulatory focus theory, we examined how individual regulatory focus changed the effects of gain- and loss-framed messages on promoting consistent condom use and HPV DNA testing for HPV prevention. We also explored whether this interaction effect impacts the influences of target individuals’ initial attitudes about condom use and HPV DNA testing on post attitudes and intentions. Results of Study 1 showed that, in general, the gain-framed message fit with regulatory focus (i.e., promotion focus) promoted more positive attitudes about consistent condom use than the gain-framed message nonfit with their regulatory focus (i.e., prevention focus).

Nevertheless, the gain-framed message nonfit with regulatory focus (i.e., prevention focus) strengthened the negative relationship between initial attitudes and intentions, which promoted the intentions to use condom consistently among people who initially held negative attitudes toward consistent condom use. In Study 2, we did not observe a significant interaction effect of message framing and regulatory focus in the HPV DNA testing context. However, we observed that the gain-framed message nonfit with regulatory focus (i.e., prevention focus) led to the changes in the significance of the initial attitudes – post attitudes relationship from significant to non-significant. Thus, the reliance on initial negative attitudes about HPV DNA testing in decision-making decreased. Theoretical and practical implications of our research were discussed.

摘要

女性对人乳头瘤病毒 (HPV) 预防策略的认识有限且吸收率低，因此需要制定更有效的教育干预措施。监管焦点理论假设框架效价与接受者的监管焦点相匹配会增加说服力。遵循监管重点理论，我们研究了个人监管重点如何改变增益和损失框架信息对促进一致使用安全套和 HPV DNA 检测以预防 HPV 的影响。我们还探讨了这种交互作用是否会影响目标个体对安全套使用和 HPV DNA 检测的初始态度对后态度和意图的影响。研究 1 的结果表明，总体而言，增益框架信息符合监管重点（即，

然而，与监管焦点（即预防焦点）不一致的增益框架信息加强了初始态度和意图之间的负相关关系，这促进了最初对一致使用安全套持消极态度的人一致使用安全套的意图。在研究 2 中，我们没有观察到信息框架和监管重点在 HPV DNA 检测环境中的显着交互作用。然而，我们观察到，与监管焦点（即预防焦点）不匹配的增益框架信息导致初始态度的显着性变化 - 后态度关系从显着变为不显着。因此，在决策中对 HPV DNA 检测的最初负面态度的依赖减少了。讨论了我们研究的理论和实践意义。