Hypothetical genetic disease risk moderates the effect of message framing on sunscreen attitudes and intentions

Health communications vary in persuasiveness according to whether the costs or benefits of engaging in a health behavior are emphasized. Generally, individuals at population risk engage in higher levels of prevention behaviors after being presented with a gain frame; however, few studies have examined whether these findings apply to individuals given extremely elevated disease risk estimates, as would be true of high-risk cancer-prone family members. In the present study, 146 undergraduate participants watched a detailed video of a simulated genetic counseling session and were asked to imagine that they were undergoing genetic testing for melanoma.