Clinical trial · Observational
Self-Affirmation and Defensiveness to Health Messages for the Self vs. a Close Other
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Background: \- Researchers want to learn about people s beliefs and values. They also want to learn about how people respond to information about cancer risk. They have created two short studies. They have combined these studies for convenience. Objective: \- To learn about people s beliefs and values, and about how people respond to information about cancer risk. Eligibility: \- Adults age 40-70 who are overweight, have never had cancer, and have an opposite-sex close relationship with someone in that age group who is also overweight. Design: * This study will take place online or in a laboratory. * Participants will take part in two studies. One is Values Study. The other is Cancer Risk Information. * In Values Study, some participants will choose the most important value from a list. They will write about why that value is important to them. Others will choose the least important value from a list. They will write about why that value may be important to someone else. * In Cancer Risk Information, participants will read a health message about a cancer risk relevant to themselves or to a close other. Some will wear special glasses that track their eye movements as they read. * Participants will then answer questions about their beliefs about cancer risk and their intentions to lose weight. * Both studies will take 30 minutes.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer Prevention | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Ego | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Social Science | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (0)
Data not yet available
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (0)
[]Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Intentions to lose weight/ talk to doctor
- timeFrame
- Immediately post-experiment
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 40 Years
- Maximum age
- 70 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
* INCLUSION CRITERIA For Study 1 -Knowledge Networks panel members will be eligible if they are aged 40-70, overweight, and have never been diagnosed with cancer (to ensure relevance to breast and prostate cancer risk, the topic of the health message). Individuals will also be screened for inclusion based on whether they report having an opposite-sex close relationship with another adult age 40-70 who is also overweight (e.g., opposite-sex spouse, close friend, or family member). For Study 2 -Community individuals will be subject to the same inclusion criteria.
References
Publications (3)
- BACKGROUNDCrocker J, Niiya Y, Mischkowski D. Why does writing about important values reduce defensiveness? Self-affirmation and the role of positive other-directed feelings. Psychol Sci. 2008 Jul;19(7):740-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02150.x. PMID 18727791
- BACKGROUNDEpton T, Harris PR. Self-affirmation promotes health behavior change. Health Psychol. 2008 Nov;27(6):746-52. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.27.6.746. PMID 19025270
- BACKGROUNDGodolphin W. Shared decision-making. Healthc Q. 2009;12 Spec No Patient:e186-90. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2009.20947. PMID 19667767