Interventions to Decrease Health Information Avoidance

NCT ID: NCT06972667

Last Updated: 2025-05-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1500 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-10-31
• Study Completion Date: 2026-09-30

Brief Summary

Health information avoidance is an overlooked threat to the reach and effectiveness of health communication. To fully realize the benefits of our sizeable investments in health messaging, it is necessary to identify strategies for reducing health information avoidance. The researchers will test a video-based strategy for promoting colorectal cancer screening designed to reduce defensive colorectal cancer information avoidance and increase message reach by increasing engagement among those who would otherwise avoid the message. The researchers will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effects of the intervention video to an attentional control video on colorectal cancer screening intentions and uptake.

Detailed Description

The study will test the efficacy and mediating mechanisms of brief video interventions including elements demonstrated to be effective in reducing health information avoidance (self-efficacy boosting, humor, calm affect induction). It is expected that the videos to benefit people who typically avoid health information yet still be beneficial for people who do not avoid health information, thus being suitable for dissemination to general audiences. It is hypothesized that the interventions will strengthen intentions to be screened, increase colorectal cancer risk information seeking and increase screening.

Following recommended practices, the two intervention arms and the control arm will include multiple versions of the videos to control for actor effects. All intervention videos operationalize the same psychological mechanisms but are delivered by 4 different actors and promote either colonoscopy or stool tests. The 8 parallel intervention and 4 control videos will be treated as random effects.

The intervention videos will be tested in members of the Ipsos panel who are not adherent to colorectal cancer screening guidelines, half of whom will be selected because they tend to avoid colorectal cancer information. Effects of the intervention videos will be compared to those of an attentional control video about food safety.

Conditions

Health Information Avoidance

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Video to promote colonoscopy

Participants will view a brief video promoting colonoscopy with self-efficacy enhancement, humor and calm affect induction

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Video to promote colonoscopy

Intervention Type: OTHER

This video contains elements designed to engage and persuade people who tend to avoid colorectal cancer information to have a colonoscopy. Psychological elements include self-efficacy boosting, humor, and calming affect induction.

Video to promote screening for colorectal cancer with home tests

Participants will view a brief video promoting colorectal cancer home testing with self-efficacy enhancement, humor and calm affect induction

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Video to promote screening for colorectal cancer with home tests

Intervention Type: OTHER

This video contains elements designed to engage and persuade people who tend to avoid colorectal cancer information to screen for colorectal cancer with a home test. Psychological elements include self-efficacy boosting, humor, and calming affect induction.

Attentional control video

The attentional control video will be about food safety and will be the same length and include the same actors and music.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Video to promote colonoscopy

This video contains elements designed to engage and persuade people who tend to avoid colorectal cancer information to have a colonoscopy. Psychological elements include self-efficacy boosting, humor, and calming affect induction.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Video to promote screening for colorectal cancer with home tests

This video contains elements designed to engage and persuade people who tend to avoid colorectal cancer information to screen for colorectal cancer with a home test. Psychological elements include self-efficacy boosting, humor, and calming affect induction.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• between the ages of 45 and 75 years
• never diagnosed with colorectal cancer
• non-adherent to colorectal cancer screening guidelines
• half will have a score at or greater than the mid-point on the colorectal cancer information avoidance scale (≥2.5) on the pre-screening survey such that half of the sample are people who tend to avoid colorectal cancer information

Exclusion Criteria

• not between the ages of 45 and 75 years
• have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer
• adherent to colorectal cancer screening guidelines

• Minimum Eligible Age: 45 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 75 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

State University of New York at Buffalo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Heather Orom

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Heather Orom Associate Professor, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University at Buffalo

Locations

University at Buffalo

Buffalo, New York, United States

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Heather Orom Associate Professor, PhD

Role: CONTACT

horom@buffalo.edu

716-829-6684

Facility Contacts

Heather Orom, PhD

Role: primary

horom@buffalo.edu

716-829-6684

Provided Documents

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

R01CA276430

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

STUDY00009059

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id