Biomedical subjects

Charles Abraham

Publications and source records attributed to Charles Abraham.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Reducing friday alcohol consumption among moderate, women drinkers: evaluation of a brief evidence-based intervention.

AIMS: A randomized controlled trial was used to evaluate a brief research-based intervention designed to promote drinking within recommended limits on Fridays and Saturdays among moderate drinkers. METHODS: The two-page, leaflet-like intervention included persuasive communication targeting motivational and volitional antecedents of behaviour as specified by an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and implementation intention theory. Participants were randomly allocated to a control group (TPB questionnaire only) or to a group receiving the TPB questionnaire plus leaflet-like intervention. Cognitions and drinking behaviour were measured immediately before the intervention and at 8-weeks follow-up. The pre-intervention questionnaire was distributed to 573 participants of whom 347 (61%) responded at follow-up. RESULTS: Significantly greater reduction in risky drinking on Fridays was observed among women (but not men) in the intervention group at 8-weeks follow-up. No other post-intervention differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: A low-cost, readily-produced, written intervention focusing on recommended daily limits reduced risky drinking amongst women on Fridays. Further work on similar interventions is warranted.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The role of affect in UK commuters' travel mode choices: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Previous research has suggested that the choice between public transport and private car use is not solely based on utility considerations, such as time and cost. However, affective considerations tend not to be targeted in policy interventions to reduce car use. This may be due, in part, to a lack of clarity about which affective responses to car use are important and how they may affect willingness to switch to public transport. This study sought to clarify the role of affective responses in transport mode choice. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of car users' accounts was conducted to (i) explore affect associated with decisions to drive or use public transport to get to work; and (ii) describe the role of affect on such transport decisions, and its relationship to utility considerations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 car users employed at a medium-sized UK university. Four affect themes were identified: These were journey-based affect (JBA), personal space, autonomy and identity. Typical 'utility' factors such as time, cost and reliability had important affective effects, and these were considered alongside utility components (e.g. getting to work on time). However, these effects were not always additive, and the role of affect depended on participants' own assessment of their circumstances. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Perceived discrimination of international visitors to universities in Germany and the UK.

The extent to which international students and academics feel discriminated against in the host country was explored in three samples from two countries: students in Germany (N = 161), students in the UK (N = 139), and academics in Germany (N = 79). Respondents completed a measure of perceived discrimination of increasing severity, comprising antilocution (verbal derogation), avoidance, behavioural discrimination, and physical assault. Physical discernibility as foreigner, quality of private contacts with host nationals, and language proficiency were explored as predictors of perceived discrimination. Across the three samples, respondents who were identifiable as foreigners by their appearance reported more discrimination. Positive contacts with host nationals were associated with lower levels of perceived discrimination. Language proficiency predicted perceived antilocution in the two German samples. All samples perceived their personal level of discrimination to be lower than that of their respective in-groups (international students/academics), but the tendency was moderated by visibility and contact quality.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Can safer-sex promotion leaflets change cognitive antecedents of condom use? An experimental evaluation.

An experimental evaluation of a safer sex promotion leaflet was undertaken to assess its capacity to change antecedent cognitions of condom use. The leaflet was identified in a previous study as addressing research-based cognitive antecedents of condom use. A pre-post-test experimental study including three conditions was conducted: (a) presentation of the leaflet; (b) presentation of the leaflet plus incentive for systematic processing; (c) no-leaflet control. The leaflet was evaluated in terms of its capacity to change eight cognitive correlates of condom use identified in a recent meta-analysis. The sample consisted of 230 tenth-grade students. Following baseline assessments, leaflet-induced change was measured immediately following the intervention and at a follow up 4 weeks post-intervention. The target leaflet alone did not result in significant changes in the cognitive antecedents of condom use compared with the control condition. However, in combination with an incentive for systematic processing, the target leaflet had a greater impact on cognitive antecedents than the no-leaflet control condition. The findings are discussed with regard to the development and evaluation of research-based health-promotion materials.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Randomized controlled trial of a brief research-based intervention promoting fruit and vegetable consumption.

OBJECTIVE: The present study sought to test the efficacy of a brief research-based, leaflet-like intervention to promote eating the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables (RDIFV). DESIGN: A controlled, pre- post-test experimental study with random allocation and a 1 week self-report behavioural follow-up was conducted. METHOD: The intervention employed persuasive communication targeting self-efficacy and intention, and invited participants to form implementation intentions in relation to acquiring and preparing fruit and vegetables for consumption. RESULTS: Intervention participants had stronger post-intervention intentions to consume the RDIFV, and higher anticipated regret in relation to failing to do so, compared with controls, controlling for pre-intervention scores. At follow-up, the intervention group was found to have eaten more fruit and vegetables and to have consumed the RDIFV more frequently. DISCUSSION: It is concluded that this study supports the previously reported power of implementation intentions to prompt enactment of intentions, and that a brief research-based leaflet-like intervention could result in immediate enhancement of intentions and anticipated regret, and promote greater fruit and vegetable consumption.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

RCT of a theory-based intervention promoting healthy eating and physical activity amongst out-patients older than 65 years.

A randomised controlled trial was used to evaluate a theory-based health promotion intervention. The intervention, a healthy living booklet, was designed to promote healthy eating and physical activity amongst people aged over 65 years attending hospital out-patient clinics. The booklet employed persuasive arguments targeting the most proximal cognitive antecedents of behaviour specified by the theory of planned behaviour, as well as goal setting prompts. Participants (N = 252, average age=82) were randomly allocated to a control (patient satisfaction questionnaire) or intervention (healthy living booklet) group. Cognitions and behaviour were measured pre-intervention and at a two week follow up. The intervention group made significantly higher gains in perceived behavioural control, intention and behaviour for both target behaviours, suggesting that the intervention was successful. Sixty three of those invited to set goals to eat more healthily (e.g., "to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day") did so, and 67% of those who set such goals reported 100% success in acting on them. By contrast, only 34% of intervention participants set an activity goal (e.g., "a five minute walk everyday"), and only 51% reported 100% success in enacting these goals. Results suggest that the observed behavioural effects of the healthy eating booklet could be attributed to goal setting as well as changes in perceived behavioural control and intention.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Sex education as health promotion: what does it take?

Health promotion should be evidence-based, needs driven, subject to evaluation, and ecological in perspective. How can this be achieved in the context of school-based sex education? Adopting new behaviors and giving up old habits involves common decision-making, planning, motivational control, and goal prioritization processes. Consequently, despite the particular nature of sexual behavior, models of cognitive change applied to other health-related behaviors also apply to the promotion of safer sex practice. Young people are less likely to have unprotected sexual intercourse if they have acquired a variety of social skills relevant to dealing with romantic and sexual relationships. Many of these social skills and the methods employed to facilitate their development are also important to the promotion of other health behaviors. However, teaching social skills relevant to sexual behavior in classroom settings requires specialist expertise both in program design and in delivery by teachers or facilitators. Theory- and evidence-based programs designed to promote such skills and modified on the basis of effectiveness evaluations are most likely to have an impact on the rate of pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among young people. Yet, such programs may not be used in schools because of policy and cultural constraints. When this is the case, optimally effective health promotion cannot be delivered. Health promoters should acknowledge these challenges and facilitate the adoption and implementation of effective sexual health promotion programs by targeting communities and legislators.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Constructing an integrated model of the antecedents of adolescent smoking.

OBJECTIVE: Reviews have called for integrative, theoretically informed models of the 'hundreds of associations' (Miller & Slap, 1989, p. 131) between psychosocial measures and adolescent smoking (e. g. Tyas & Pederson, 1998). Such a model was tested. METHOD: A prospective, classroom-based survey measuring previously identified correlates of smoking allowed comparison of the strength of relationships between antecedents and smoking status six months later. The prospective sample included 225 13 to 14-year-olds. Measures of behaviour-specific cognitions derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)-as well as personality, self-esteem, parental support and parental control, sociodemographic factors, and descriptive norms-were included. Relationships between antecedents were explored using path analyses. RESULTS: High initial rates of smoking were observed. Of the variance in smoking six months later, 56% was explained by seven direct predictors: intention, perceived ease of smoking, estimated number of friends smoking, percentage of older brothers smoking, self-esteem, extraversion and car access. DISCUSSION: Results emphasize the importance of behaviour-specific cognitions specified by the TPB but suggest that other factors, including extraversion and self-esteem, need to be included in models of the antecedents of smoking. The findings also imply that some antecedents, such as parental support, may indirectly influence adolescent smoking through their effect on other variables.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Deciding to exercise: the role of anticipated regret.

OBJECTIVES: Two studies tested (a) whether anticipated regret (AR) qualifies as an additional predictor of intentions to engage in a health-enhancing behaviour (exercise) after variables from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and past behaviour have been controlled, and (b) whether a manipulation that induces participants to focus on AR causes stronger intentions to exercise. DESIGN: Study 1 employed a cross-sectional questionnaire design; Study 2 employed a between-participants experimental design (AR focus vs. no AR focus). METHOD: Participants (N = 385) completed standard, multi-item, reliable measures of TPB constructs and AR and also reported their past behaviour (Study 1). Participants in Study 2 (N = 70) completed measures of AR and intention; salience of AR was manipulated by means of item order. RESULTS: Study 1 showed that even though TPB variables and past behaviour were reliable predictors of intention, and explained 51% of the variance, AR contributed a substantial increment in the variance (5%) even after these predictors had been taken into account. Study 2 showed that participants who were induced to focus on AR prior to intention formation had significantly stronger intentions to exercise compared to controls. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that AR predicts a health-enhancing behaviour (as well as the health-risk behaviours examined in previous research) and that effects of AR are independent of TPB variables and past behaviour. The findings also indicate that a simple and inexpensive manipulation of the salience of AR can be used to promote exercise intentions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Lay understanding of terms used in cancer consultations.

The study assessed lay understanding of terms used by doctors during cancer consultations. Terms and phrases were selected from 50-videotaped consultations and included in a survey of 105 randomly selected people in a seaside resort. The questionnaire included scenarios containing potentially ambiguous diagnostic/prognostic terms, multiple-choice, comprehension questions and figures on which to locate body organs that could be affected by cancer. Respondents also rated how confident they were about their answers. About half the sample understood euphemisms for the metastatic spread of cancer e.g. 'seedlings' and 'spots in the liver' (44 and 55% respectively). Sixty-three per cent were aware that the term 'metastasis' meant that the cancer was spreading but only 52% understood that the phrase 'the tumour is progressing' was not good news. Yet respondents were fairly confident that they understood these terms. Knowledge of organ location varied. For example, 94% correctly identified the lungs but only 46% located the liver. The findings suggest that a substantial proportion of the lay public do not understand phrases often used in cancer consultations and that knowledge of basic anatomy cannot be assumed. Yet high confidence ratings indicate that asking if patients understand is likely to overestimate comprehension. Awareness of the unfamiliarity of the lay population with cancer-related terms could prompt further explanation in cancer-related consultations.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Mediator of moderators: temporal stability of intention and the intention-behavior relation.

Intention certainty, past behavior, self-schema, anticipated regret, and attitudinal versus normative control all have been found to moderate intention-behavior relations. It is argued that moderation occurs because these variables produce "strong" intentions. Stability of intention over time is a key index of intention strength. Consequently, it was hypothesized that temporal stability of intention would mediate moderation by these other moderators. Participants (N = 185) completed questionnaire measures of theory of planned behavior constructs and moderator variables at two time points and subsequently reported their exercise behavior. Findings showed that all of the moderators, including temporal stability, were associated with significant improvements in consistency between intention and behavior. Temporal stability also mediated the effects of the other moderators, supporting the study hypothesis.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

Acting on intentions: the role of anticipated regret.

Three studies tested the hypothesis that anticipated regret (AR) increases consistency between exercise intentions and behaviour. Study 1 employed a longitudinal survey design (N = 384). Measures specified by the theory of planned behaviour, past behaviour, and AR were used to predict self-reported exercise behaviour 2 weeks later. AR moderated the intention-behaviour relationship such that participants were most likely to exercise if they both intended to exercise and anticipated regret if they failed to exercise. Study 2 used an experimental design to examine the effect of focusing on AR prior to reporting intentions (N = 229). Exercise was measured 2 weeks later and the AR-focus manipulation was found to moderate the intention-behaviour relationship in a similar manner to that observed in Study 1. In Study 3 (N = 97), moderation was replicated and was shown to be mediated by the temporal stability of intention.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Limits of teacher delivered sex education: interim behavioural outcomes from randomised trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a theoretically based sex education programme for adolescents (SHARE) delivered by teachers reduced unsafe sexual intercourse compared with current practice. DESIGN: Cluster randomised trial with follow up two years after baseline (six months after intervention). A process evaluation investigated the delivery of sex education and broader features of each school. SETTING: Twenty five secondary schools in east Scotland. PARTICIPANTS: 8430 pupils aged 13-15 years; 7616 completed the baseline questionnaire and 5854 completed the two year follow up questionnaire. INTERVENTION: SHARE programme (intervention group) versus existing sex education (control programme). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self reported exposure to sexually transmitted disease, use of condoms and contraceptives at first and most recent sexual intercourse, and unwanted pregnancies. RESULTS: When the intervention group was compared with the conventional sex education group in an intention to treat analysis there were no differences in sexual activity or sexual risk taking by the age of 16 years. However, those in the intervention group reported less regret of first sexual intercourse with most recent partner (young men 9.9% difference, 95% confidence interval -18.7 to -1.0; young women 7.7% difference, -16.6 to 1.2). Pupils evaluated the intervention programme more positively, and their knowledge of sexual health improved. Lack of behavioural effect could not be linked to differential quality of delivery of intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with conventional sex education this specially designed intervention did not reduce sexual risk taking in adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Heterosexual risk behaviour among young teenagers in Scotland.

This paper provides the first detailed data on the heterosexual sexual experience of a large sample of 14-year-olds in Scotland. The paper investigates the prevalence, nature and correlates of early heterosexual intercourse, and the extent and correlates of condom use. Questionnaires were administered in 24 schools under examination conditions (N=7630). Eighteen per cent of boys and 15% of girls reported having had intercourse. Sixty per cent reported condoms were "used throughout". The most important correlate of sexual experience was low level of parental monitoring; the key predictor for condom use was whether or not the respondent talked to their partner about protection before having sexual intercourse.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Do health promotion messages target cognitive and behavioural correlates of condom use? A content analysis of safer sex promotion leaflets in two countries.

OBJECTIVE: To categorize and quantify the content of publicly available safer sex promotion leaflets in the UK and Germany and to assess the extent to which this content corresponds to the cognitive and behavioural correlates of condom use identified by theory-based research. METHODS: A content analysis using a 45 category coding manual was undertaken. The manual included 20 'correlate-representative' categories identifying text promoting the strongest cognitive and behavioural correlates of condom use. RESULTS: Overall inter-coder reliability was high. Few content differences were observed between the German and UK samples. Leaflets from both countries highlighted information on how people become infected with HIV and advice to contact health care professionals. Few mentioned delaying or abstaining from sexual intercourse. Only 25% of leaflets included text that referred to more than 10 of the 20 correlate-representative categories. Moreover, using one standard deviation above the mean as an indication of frequent inclusion, two-thirds of leafets failed to target frequently more than two of the 20 correlate-representative categories. CONCLUSIONS: Some safer sex promotion leaflets frequently promote the strongest cognitive and behavioural correlates of condom use. In general, however, the recommendations of researchers investigating psychological correlates of condom use have not shaped the content of safer sex promotion leaflets.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1993

Pain assessment with interactive computer animation.

A method of assessing pain using interactive computer animation is described. This method provides quantitative measurements of different qualitative aspects of pain experience without reliance on fine verbal distinctions. A clinical comparison of this procedure and the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) is reported. Correlations between paper and animated visual analogue scales (VAS) showed that animated measurements can be reliably compared to traditional paper-based reporting. Measurements using animations designed to assess different qualities of pain experience correlated significantly with SF-MPQ measures, providing good concurrent validity. A difference was found between patients who chose only one quality-of-pain animation and those who chose more than one, possibly indicating a difference in patients' verbal fluency. Patients overwhelmingly preferred the interactive animations to the paper-based method.

Adult↗