Fear appeals for increasing intentions to have colorectal cancer screening among high-risk adults: moderating role of tripartite self-construal

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered a threat to life. Early detection is key to effective treatment. Fear appeal is one of the most famous techniques to persuade people to uptake CRC screening. This current study attempted to replicate the congruent effect of cultural orientation at an individual level and fear message types. A 3 (self-construal) x 2 (self-threatened versus family-threatened) factorial research design was employed to examine the effect of tripartite self-construal and the types of fear message on the perceived threat, feelings of fear, attitude and intention toward CRC screening among Thais. One hundred and thirty-three adults aged between 40 and 70 who lived in Bangkok were then randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions via online participation. The between-group Multivariate Analysis Of Covariance (MANCOVA) indicated no difference among experimental conditions. However, the results were not conclusive due to failed manipulation checks on both self-construal and fear message type manipulations. The result from PROCESS analysis on measured self-construal revealed some significant relationships among variables, especially the relationship between perceived CRC threat and fear appeal outcomes. Despite the non-significant results, practitioners and future researchers would gain insights about implementing fear appeal messages for attitude and behavioral change to promote CRC screening.