Background: Although learning health information is beneficial for physical well-being, many people opt to avoid learning this information due to its potentially threatening nature. Such avoidance can lead to delays in seeking treatment.
Purpose: This study tested the effectiveness of a self-regulation technique, mental contrasting (MC), specifically MC of a negative future with a positive current reality, in reducing health information avoidance regarding skin cancer (melanoma). We hypothesized that participants who engaged in MC would be more likely to choose to learn about their melanoma risk than those who completed a control, reflection activity.
Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial (N = 354). Participants were assigned to complete a MC or reflection (control) exercise prior to filling out a melanoma risk calculator. Participants were then asked whether they wanted to learn their melanoma risk, and how much information they would like to know.
Results: Chi-Square tests revealed that MC decreased melanoma risk information avoidance compared to the reflection activity (12% vs. 23.4%) but did not make participants more likely seek additional information.
Conclusion: MC is a brief, engaging, and effective strategy for reducing health information avoidance that could prove useful in medical settings.
Keywords: Health; Information avoidance; Mental contrasting; Randomized controlled trial.
It is important to know about the status of one’s health in order to take necessary precautions for positive health outcomes. However, people may often engage in “information avoidance,” which is the tendency to neglect seeking available and potentially valuable health information. Avoiding health information, especially with regards to one’s risk for various diseases, is harmful because it can delay timely treatment. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of mental contrasting—a self-regulation technique—in reducing information avoidance for melanoma skin cancer risk. We recruited 354 participants, and they were randomly assigned to engage in the mental contrasting exercise or reflection (control) exercise. The participants then filled out a melanoma risk calculator and were asked whether they would like to learn their risk for melanoma, and how much information they would like to know. The results showed that mental contrasting decreased melanoma risk information avoidance compared to the reflection activity (12% vs. 23.4%) but did not make participants more likely seek additional information. These findings suggest that mental contrasting can be a brief, engaging, and effective strategy for reducing health information avoidance.
© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2023. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.