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01.08.2015 | Brief Report

Information Avoidance Tendencies, Threat Management Resources, and Interest in Genetic Sequencing Feedback

verfasst von: Jennifer M. Taber, PhD, William M. P. Klein, PhD, Rebecca A. Ferrer, PhD, Katie L. Lewis, CGC, Peter R. Harris, PhD, James A. Shepperd, PhD, Leslie G. Biesecker, MD

Erschienen in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Ausgabe 4/2015

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Abstract

Background

Information avoidance is a defensive strategy that undermines receipt of potentially beneficial but threatening health information and may especially occur when threat management resources are unavailable.

Purpose

We examined whether individual differences in information avoidance predicted intentions to receive genetic sequencing results for preventable and unpreventable (i.e., more threatening) disease and, secondarily, whether threat management resources of self-affirmation or optimism mitigated any effects.

Methods

Participants (N = 493) in an NIH study (ClinSeq®) piloting the use of genome sequencing reported intentions to receive (optional) sequencing results and completed individual difference measures of information avoidance, self-affirmation, and optimism.

Results

Information avoidance tendencies corresponded with lower intentions to learn results, particularly for unpreventable diseases. The association was weaker among individuals higher in self-affirmation or optimism, but only for results regarding preventable diseases.

Conclusions

Information avoidance tendencies may influence decisions to receive threatening health information; threat management resources hold promise for mitigating this association.

When we examined the two self-affirmation items separately, affirming one’s strengths moderated the effect of information avoidance on intentions to learn preventable disease results (β = 0.017, SE = 0.007, CI_95 % = 0.02 to 0.03, p = 0.025), whereas affirming one’s values did not (β = 0.008, SE = 0.007, CI_95 % = −0.01 to 0.02, p = 0.275). The interaction pattern for affirmation of strengths was similar to that seen for the full self-affirmation scale. Neither item significantly interacted with information avoidance to predict intentions to learn results for unpreventable disease. Because little is known about how different types of self-affirmation function, we do not discuss this finding further.

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Titel: Information Avoidance Tendencies, Threat Management Resources, and Interest in Genetic Sequencing Feedback
verfasst von: Jennifer M. Taber, PhD
William M. P. Klein, PhD
Rebecca A. Ferrer, PhD
Katie L. Lewis, CGC
Peter R. Harris, PhD
James A. Shepperd, PhD
Leslie G. Biesecker, MD
Publikationsdatum: 01.08.2015
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Ausgabe 4/2015
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Elektronische ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9679-7

Springer Medizin

Information Avoidance Tendencies, Threat Management Resources, and Interest in Genetic Sequencing Feedback