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Testing Theoretical Explanations of Intention to Seek Care for a Breast Cancer Symptom 1
Author(s) -
Lauver Diane,
Chang Audrey
Publication year - 1991
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.1559-1816.1991.tb00480.x
Subject(s) - psychosocial , breast cancer , psychology , habit , affect (linguistics) , mediation , anxiety , variables , social psychology , clinical psychology , cancer , medicine , psychiatry , statistics , communication , political science , law , mathematics
The purpose of this research was to test theoretical explanations of intention to seek care promptly for a breast cancer symptom. Psychosocial variables (affect, expectations, values, and norms), habit, and facilitating conditions (e.g., insurance) regarding care seeking were proposed to influence intention to seek care promptly. Whether psychosocial variables and habit influenced intention directly or in interaction with facilitating conditions remained unclear. Other variables (i.e., clinical and demographic) were proposed to influence intention by mediation through the theoretical variables. Community‐dwelling women without history of breast cancer ( N = 99) responded to a questionnaire to assess study variables. In a hierarchical set regression, intention was first regressed on psychosocial variables, habit, and full insurance coverage for care, then on terms representing interactions of insurance coverage with psychosocial variables and habit, and lastly on clinical and demographic variables. Findings revealed that (a) anxiety (measure of affect), utility, (the product of expectations and values), and habit were related to intention, (b) having full insurance coverage did not moderate these relationships, and (c) after controlling for theoretical variables, family history of breast cancer was related inversely to intention. Implications for theory, research, and practice are delineated.