Linda D. Cameron’s research while affiliated with University of California, Merced and other places

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is related to many negative health outcomes for victims. Our aim was to determine whether two types of emotion regulation strategies—cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression—moderate the effect of IPV victimization on health over time. Method: We recruited 1,200 participants to complete an initial survey during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that assessed IPV victimization, habitual emotion regulation strategy use, and three indexes of health (i.e., general health, sickness behavior, and substance use). These participants then completed a follow-up survey 10 months later to reassess their health. We evaluated how habitual cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression moderated the effect of IPV victimization on each of the measures of health at follow-up, controlling for the initial respective measure of health. Results: Accounting for initial health, IPV victimization at the beginning of the pandemic was associated with worse general health, more sickness behavior, and greater substance use 10 months later. At higher levels of habitual expressive suppression, IPV victimization was associated with greater substance use. Unexpectedly, at higher levels of habitual cognitive reappraisal, IPV victimization was associated with worse general health and greater substance use. Conclusions: Our work demonstrates the long-term health effects of IPV victimization and that both expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal can exacerbate these effects on general health and substance use. Findings highlight a specific context in which cognitive reappraisal may not be a health-protective emotion regulation strategy. This should be considered in practical and therapeutic settings that serve individuals who have experienced IPV.

Objective We outline the development of a narrative intervention guided by the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM) to promote Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in a diverse college population. Methods We adapted the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model to guide the development, evaluation, and refinement of a CSM-guided narrative video. First, content experts developed a video script containing information on HPV, HPV vaccines, and HPV-related cancers. The script and video contents were evaluated and refined, in succession, utilizing the think-aloud method, open-ended questions, and a brief survey during one-on-one interviews with university students. Results Script and video content analyses led to significant revisions that enhanced quality, informativeness, and relevance to the participants. We highlight the critical issues that were revealed and revised in the iterative process Conclusions We developed and refined a CSM guided narrative video for diverse university students. This framework serves as a guide for developing health communication interventions for other populations and health behaviors. Innovation This project is the first to apply the ORBIT framework to HPV vaccination and describe a process to develop, evaluate, and refine comparable CSM guided narrative interventions that are tailored to specific audiences.

Objective To understand the extent to which people who smoke, people who vape and nonsmokers would switch between smoking cigarettes and vaping in response to policies (price increases, restrictions on nicotine, places, and information on addictiveness and/or health risks) aimed at decreasing tobacco use by people who smoke and vaping by nonsmokers. Design A total of 525 adults aged 18 to 88 years completed a discrete choice survey of 16 choices between two smoking/vaping alternatives. Analysis was conducted using conditional logistic regression for the entire sample and stratified by nonsmokers, people who smoke, and people who vape. Results The results suggest that most people who vape also smoke. Nonsmokers were more favorable to vaping and were concerned about long-term health risks and cost associated with vaping. Marginal analysis suggests that price increases will have only modest success in moving people who smoke to start vaping or encouraging people who vape to vape rather than use cigarettes. Nonsmokers are not very sensitive to price changes but are sensitive to information about health impacts. Conclusions Findings indicate that increasing the price of cigarettes would lead to a limited increase in the probability of people who smoke switch to vaping. The study advances our understanding of the views of current nonsmokers toward cigarettes and vaping, suggesting that price increases and increased knowledge of addiction would likely deter nonsmokers from vaping. Changing the amount of nicotine associated with smoking would increase the probability of vaping slightly and have little impact on nonsmokers or vaping preferences, but the most significant change would come from increasing the perceptions of the risk of smoking.

Objective: We outline the development of a theoretically guided narrative intervention within the context of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination promotion, which serves as a framework for future health behavior change interventions tailored to diverse populations. Methods: We utilized an adapted Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model to guide the development, evaluation, and refinement of a narrative video. First, content experts developed a video script containing information on HPV, HPV vaccines, and HPV-related cancers. The script and video contents were evaluated and refined, in succession, utilizing the think-aloud method, open-ended questions, and a brief survey during one-on-one interviews with university students. Results: Script and video content analyses led to significant revisions that enhanced quality, informativeness, and relevance to the participants. We highlight the critical issues that were revealed and revised in the iterative process. Conclusions: We successfully developed and refined a theoretically guided narrative video for diverse university students. This framework serves as a guide for developing health communication interventions for other populations and health behaviors. Innovation: This project is the first to utilize the ORBIT framework and describe a process to develop, evaluate, and refine comparable theoretically guided narrative interventions that are tailored to specific audiences.

Two key processes in romantic relationships—power and dominance—can contribute to relationship disruption, but the association between these variables is complex. Elucidating the association between power and dominance during the COVID‐19 pandemic is particularly important given the economic, social, and health‐related stressors that pose a risk to relationship health. We examined associations between power, stress, and dominance by recruiting 1813 participants to complete an initial online survey at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participants were contacted 10 and 22 months later to complete follow‐up surveys. Results revealed two main effects: individuals who had greater relationship power and experienced more COVID‐19‐related stressors than other people engaged in more dominance behaviors. A significant curvilinear effect revealed that at low levels of power, power was not associated with dominance behaviors. However, once power surpassed low levels, individuals with more power engaged in more dominance behaviors. Finally, people engaged in more dominance behaviors when they experienced more power and stress compared to their own average (i.e., within‐person effects) during the pandemic. Implications for theories of power, dominance, and relationship disruption and distress are discussed.

Whether to undergo genome sequencing in a clinical or research context is generally a voluntary choice. Individuals are often motivated to learn genomic information even when clinical utility—the possibility that the test could inform medical recommendations or health outcomes—is low or absent. Motivations to seek one's genomic information can be cognitive, affective, social, or mixed (e.g., cognitive and affective) in nature. These motivations are based on the perceived value of the information, specifically, its clinical utility and personal utility. We suggest that motivations to learn genomic information are no different from motivations to learn other types of personal information, including one's health status and disease risk. Here, we review behavioral science relevant to motivations that may drive engagement with genome sequencing, both in the presence of varying degrees of clinical utility and in the absence of clinical utility. Specifically, we elucidate 10 motivations that are expected to underlie decisions to undergo genome sequencing. Recognizing these motivations to learn genomic information will guide future research and ultimately help clinicians to facilitate informed decision making among individuals as genome sequencing becomes increasingly available.

Background: A variety of intervention strategies to improve Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in adults exist; however, they have shown varying efficacy and inconsistent outcomes. Purpose: This meta-analysis tested the efficacy of HPV vaccination interventions for adults in increasing vaccine intentions, rates of initiation of the vaccine series, and completion rates. The study also tested potential moderators (intervention strategy, theory-based versus nontheory-based interventions, race/ethnicity, gender, study quality) of relationships between intervention receipt and vaccine intentions. Method: Electronic databases (PsychINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, JSTOR, PubMed) were searched for English-language articles published up to September 2021. Eligible studies included outcomes of vaccine intentions, receipt of the first dose, or vaccine series completion and included intervention and comparison conditions. Results: The search yielded 38 eligible studies reporting 78 effect sizes. Random effects, multilevel, meta-analytic models revealed a significant, small effect of interventions on vaccine intentions (OR = 0.36, 95% CI [0.07, 0.65]); a nonsignificant effect on vaccine initiation rates (OR = 1.29; 95% CI [0.87, 1.91]); and significant effects on vaccine completion rates (OR = 1.58, 95% CI [1.18, 2.11]). Race/ethnicity, gender, intervention strategy, theory-based interventions, and study quality did not moderate the intervention effects on vaccine intentions. Conclusion: Evidence supports the efficacy of interventions to increase intentions to receive the HPV vaccine and completion of the HPV vaccine series in adults. However, evidence did not support the efficacy of interventions to increase HPV vaccine initiation. Findings highlight directions for developing more efficacious HPV vaccine interventions for adults.

Rationale: Mitigating the spread of COVID-19 requires that people understand the need for and engage in protective behaviors. Given the complexity and rapid progression of media information about the pandemic, health literacy could be essential to acquiring the accurate beliefs, concern for societal risks, and appreciation of restrictive policies needed to motivate these behaviors. Yet with the increasingly politicized nature of COVID-related issues in the United States, health literacy could be an asset for those with more liberal views but less so for those with more conservative views. Objective: This study tested a hypothesized model proposing that political views moderate the associations of health literacy with COVID-19 protective behaviors as well as the mediational roles of accurate and inaccurate COVID-19 beliefs, concern for society, and governmental control attitudes. Methods: We surveyed residents in three diverse regions of California in June 2020 (N = 669) and February 2021 (N = 611). Participants completed measures of health literacy, political views, and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors. Results: Moderated mediational analyses largely supported the proposed model with both samples. Health literacy was associated with more accurate COVID-19 beliefs, less inaccurate COVID-19 beliefs, greater concern for societal risks, more positive attitudes regarding restrictive government control, more protective behavior, less risky behavior, and stronger vaccine intentions; beliefs, concern for society, and governmental control attitudes mediated the health literacy-behavior relationships. As predicted, however, these associations of health literacy with adaptive beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors varied according to political views. The direct and mediated relationships were held for participants with more liberal views and, to a lesser extent, for those with moderate views, but they were weaker or absent for participants with more conservative views. Conclusions: These findings contribute new evidence of processes linking health literacy with adaptive beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors and how social and political contexts can shape those processes.

Objectives Based on the common-sense model of self-regulation, this study aimed to explicate the mechanism underlying the effect of illness representations on self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms among patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods A telephone survey was administered to 473 patients in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was used to test if threat and control perceptions regarding diabetes would be associated with self-reported self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms through adoption of adaptive/maladaptive coping strategies and diabetes-related self-efficacy. Results Control perceptions but not threat perceptions were positively associated with self-care behaviours. Control perceptions had a positive indirect association with self-care behaviours through more problem-focused coping and diabetes-related self-efficacy. Threat perceptions simultaneously had a positive indirect association through more problem-focused coping and a negative indirect association through more avoidant coping and lower diabetes-related self-efficacy. In contrast, threat and control perceptions were positively and negatively, respectively, associated with anxiety symptoms. Problem-focused and avoidant coping consistently mediated the indirect association between threat perceptions and anxiety symptoms. Conclusion Threat and control perceptions were associated with diabetes self-care behaviours and anxiety symptoms through different self-regulation pathways. Practice implications Our findings inform possible targets for self-management interventions to simultaneously enhance self-care behaviours and alleviate diabetes-associated anxiety.