ABSTRACTS

Volume 4, Number 3
July-September 1999

Vol. 4, Num 3: Contents | Editorial | Up Front | Abstracts

A Qualitative Evaluation of the Harvard Cancer Risk Index
    Emmons, K.M., Koch-Weser, S., Atwood, K., Conboy, L., Rudd, R., & Colditz, G.

There is an extensive amount of information in the popular press about cancer risk factors.  The volume and sometimes contradictory nature of this information makes it difficult for individuals to understand their own level of risk or how one risk factor compares with another.  the Harvard Cancer Risk Index (HCRI) was developed by an interdisciplinary working group of epidemiologists and behavioral scientists to educate the public about the major risk factors associated with the 11 most common forms of cancer in the United States.  Following the development and validation of the HCRI, we initiated a qualitative research study to obtain initial feedback on the wording and presentation of the index and to elicit information regarding the meaning of risks, perception of cancer, and interpretation of the HCRI results.

The results indicated that the HCRI was well received by participants and that they have highly regarded the inclusion of information related to the latest risks for cancer and the description of the mechanisms by which these factors impact on risk.  Personalization of the risk score helped participants to focus on behaviors that they could change.  However, dissatisfaction with the HCRI was noted by some participants because exposures they believed to be important were not included (e.g., poverty, toxic waste, air pollution). Evaluation of the impact of the index on intention to change provided preliminary evidence that this may be an effective toll for helping mobilize individuals toward change across a number of risk factors.  Further quantitative evaluation of the HCRI is planned.

Assessing Prosocial Message Effectiveness: Effects of Message Quality, Production Quality, and Persuasiveness
     Austin, E.W., Pinkleton, B., & Fujioka, Y. C.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the effectiveness of prosocial messages is compromised by poor design.  A receiver-oriented content analysis (N=246) was used to assess college students' perceptions of the message quality, production quality and persuasiveness of advertisements and prosocial advertisements regarding alcohol.  After providing background information, respondents rated a series of video clips on a variety of criteria guided by the Message Interpretation Process (MIP) Model. Results indicated that prosocial ads were rated as higher in quality than were commercial ads overall and on logic-based criteria, but prosocial ads nevertheless had weaker relationships to viewers' beliefs and reported behaviors relevant to drinking alcohol.  Heavier drinkers rated commercial ads more positively than did lighter/nondrinkers.  They were less skeptical of persuasive messages and rated prosocial ads lower in effectiveness and commercial advertisements higher in effectiveness.

Reification of Normalcy
     Bergen, L. & Grimes, T.

Many researchers who investigate the putative effects of violent television on normal children claim there is a cause and effect relationship between violence on the screen and violent behavior or sociopathic attitudes among otherwise normal children who watch. There may be.  But there is a prevailing assumption that because television can produce sociopathic effects in a laboratory, that it does outside the laboratory.  In addition, uncritical assumptions of psychological normalcy among most viewers are so prevalent among researchers in this field that any pathological lifetime effect may be exaggerated.  The incidence of psychopathology, especially among nonrandom subject samples obtained from public schools, may be higher than investigators suspect, which could lead to overestimates of pernicious effects by television on children.  Because pathological children are more vulnerable to commercial television's putative sociopathic effects than are normal children, they may bias study results toward sociopathic attitudes and behaviors, thus misleading researchers into believing that television has a greater sociopathic effect on normal populations than it actually has.  Those psychopathologies are reviewed and prospective remedies are suggested for helping those children cope with the possible sociopathic effects of violently oriented television.

The Reification of Irrelevancy: A Comment on "The Reification of Normalcy"
     Murray, J.P., & Wartella, E.A..

FORUM
The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet by Dr. Bob Arnot: Unscientific and Deceptive-A Disservice to American Women
     Morgan, J., Sharma, S., Lukachko, A., and Ross

The following report is a critical review of the recently published book by NBC's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Bob Arnot, entitled, The Breast Cancer Prevention diet: The Powerful Foods, Supplements, and Drugs That Can Save Your Life.  The review represents the official opinion of the American Council on Science and health (ACSH), a nonprofit public health education and advocacy group supported by a board of over 250 scientific and policy advisors.  The scientists at the ACSH express their profound concern about the misleading, unscientific, and speculative advice that Dr. Arnot offers to women who wish to reduce their risk of breast cancer, i.e., to all women.

The ACSH believes, first, that in the absence of sound, peer-reviewed evidence supporting such advice, there is harm in recommending lifestyle modifications for the purpose of preventing breast cancer.  The ACSH also believes that a physician (and particularly one in a position of public trust, such as a professional media health expert) should refrain from selling advice based on the twin philosophies that "you can't afford to wait" for the evidence, and that "you can only improve your health" with this diet.  Indeed, unproven interventions such as those put forth in this book can have negative effects on both physical and psychological health.

The ACSH contacted many of the scientists quoted or cited in Dr. Arnot's book.  Some expressed concerns regarding the book's message or the misrepresentation of their work or both. Those physicians affiliated with the Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, while expressing their concerns about the claims made in the book, informed the ACSH that they had been "advised" not to comment on The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet.  The MSKCC public relations office acknowledged that the center had serious concerns about the Arnot book and that these concerns had been conveyed to the publisher, Little, Brown, and Co., and to Dr. Arnot.  the MSKCC representative noted that Dr. Arnot had "graciously" agreed to delete all references to MSKCC from future editions.

BOOK REVIEW
     HIV & Social Interaction
     by Derlega, V. J. & Barbee, A
     Reviewed by: D. Brashers