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Men's Motivation to Perform the Testicle Self‐Exam: Effects of Prior Knowledge and an Educational Brochure
Author(s) -
Steffen Valerie J.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb00432.x
Subject(s) - psychology , brochure , social psychology , theory of reasoned action , action (physics) , clinical psychology , art , physics , literature , poetry , quantum mechanics , digital library
College men reported their attitude and intention to perform the testicle self‐exam (TSE) and they rated the likelihood of various consequences of performing the TSE, as well as the likelihood that several other people approved of this behavior. Half of these men had read a brochure about the TSE before completing the questionnaire, and half had not. Also, about half had heard about the TSE prior to the experiment and the others had not. Men's beliefs about the consequences of doing the TSE clustered into two factors: Beliefs about practical consequences and beliefs about health consequences. Men with (vs. without) prior knowledge about the exam and men who read (vs. did not read) the brochure endorsed more positive beliefs about practical and health consequences and more positive TSE attitude and intention. However, the effect of the brochure was far stronger for men without than with prior knowledge. In addition, factors influencing TSE attitude and intention differed for men without versus with prior TSE knowledge. Although the findings were generally consistent with the theory of reasoned action, some findings supported elements of protection motivation theory. Implications for promoting the TSE are discussed.