Consumer Motivation for Disease Prevention

The purpose of this study is to examine (1) how the causal structure of a disease influences people's disease prevention decisions; and (2) how the causal structure of a disease interacts with people's regret anticipation in determining their disease prevention decisions.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Risk Reduction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: induction of anticipated regret; Other: presence of uncontrollable risk factor

Detailed Description

People sometimes have to deliberate on whether or not to remove a risk factor that may potentially cause a disease in the future. When a controllable risk factor (say, X) is the only factor that causes a disease, the decision to remove it may simply depend on the probabilistic relationship between X and an outcome, as well as the cost of removing X. However, little is known when other factors that are out of the decision-maker's control are also present. The main question being asked here is how does the presence of such uncontrollable factors change people's decision to remove X.

Specifically, the investigators consider two cases: a disease caused by a single controllable risk factor (say X) and a disease caused by two risk factors -- a controllable factor (X) and an uncontrollable factor (Y). In both cases, the removal of X can result in a meaningful reduction in overall disease risk. It is hypothesized that even when the magnitude of overall risk reduction brought by the removal of X is the same in the two cases, people would have a lower motivation to remove X in the latter case.

The investigators also examine how the presence of an uncontrollable risk factor interacts with the respondents' regret anticipation to influence their decision to remove X. In the context of the current research, regret anticipation could take one of the following forms: (a) feel regretful if one decides not to remove X and later develops the disease (b) feel regretful if one decides to remove X but still develops the disease. The investigators expect (a) to moderate the effect of uncontrollable risk factor on motivation to remove X.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Wing Man Yeung, PhD; Phone Number: (852) 39439297; Email: cyeung@cuhk.edu.hk

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Recruiting
    • Chinese University of Hong Kong
    • Contact: Wing Man Yeung, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• students enrolled in marketing courses at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Uncontrollable factor ABSENT; NO anticipated regret induced; The experiment comprises 10 rounds of decision tasks. For each round, the participant begins with having 130 points, each worth $0.5 (Hong Kong dollars). Different numbers of points are deducted depending on the outcome in each round. After the 10 rounds, the computer randomly selects 1 of the rounds and the points from this round is paid in cash. There is a chance for the participant to develop a disease. Without prevention, the chance of getting the disease is 60%. A cause, X, is identified for the disease. The participant has to decide whether or not to remove X. Removal of X reduces disease chance; the reduced chance varies between 10% and 50% across the 10 rounds and the exact level is communicated at the beginning of each round. The removal of X costs 30 points. Whether s/he ends up developing the disease or not is determined by a computerized lottery based on these chances. If s/he develops the disease, s/he will lose 100 points.
Experimental: Uncontrollable factor ABSENT; anticipated regret induced; Same description as in the "uncontrollable factor absent, no anticipated regret induced" arm, except that the participants are induced to think to what extent they will feel regretful: a) if s/he decides not to remove X but ends up developing the disease and b) if s/he decides to remove X but still gets the disease.	Other: induction of anticipated regret; higher level of elaboration on potential regret
Experimental: Uncontrollable factor PRESENT; NO anticipated regret induced; The experiment comprises 10 rounds of decision tasks. For each round, the participant begins with having 130 points, each worth $0.5. Different numbers of points are deducted depending on the outcome in each round. After the 10 rounds, the computer randomly selects 1 of the rounds and the points from this round is paid in cash. There is a chance for the participant to develop a disease. Without prevention, the chance of getting the disease is 60%. Two causes, X and Y, are identified for the disease. The participant has to decide whether or not to remove X. Removal of X reduces disease chance; the reduced chance varies between 10% and 50% across the 10 rounds and the exact level is communicated at the beginning of each round. The removal of X costs 30 points. Whether s/he ends up developing the disease or not is determined by a computerized lottery based on these chances. If s/he develops the disease, s/he will lose 100 points.	Other: presence of uncontrollable risk factor; the presence of an uncontrollable / unremovable risk factor for a disease
Experimental: Uncontrollable factor PRESENT; anticipated regret induced; Same as the "uncontrollable factor present, no anticipated regret induced" arm, except that the participants are induced to think to what extent they will feel regretful: a) if s/he decides not to remove X but ends up developing the disease and b) if s/he decides to remove X but still gets the disease.	Other: induction of anticipated regret; higher level of elaboration on potential regret; Other: presence of uncontrollable risk factor; the presence of an uncontrollable / unremovable risk factor for a disease

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Decision to remove X	The decision to remove X (yes vs. no)	Day 1: When responding to the questionnaire

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Anticipated regret	The exact question is: Some people may engage in the following thoughts when they make their decisions: "I may regret if I do not remove X and end up getting the disease" OR "I may regret if I remove X but still get the disease." To what extent have you engaged in any of these thoughts? (Measurement scale: 1 = not at all; 7 = a lot)	Day 1: When responding to the questionnaire.
Judgment of whether the removal of X is an opportunity to improve earnings	The exact question is: Do you think the decision to remove X is an opportunity for you to improve your final earnings? (Measurement scale: 1 = not a good opportunity at all; 7 = a very good opportunity")	Day 1: When responding to the questionnaire.
Sense of control over the final outcome	The exact question is: Do you think you have control over the outcome through your decision of whether or not to remove X? (Measurement scale: 1 = I have very little control… 7 = I have a lot of control)	Day 1: When responding to the questionnaire.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Collaborators: University of Toronto
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Wing Man Yeung, PhD, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Binder S, Nuscheler R. Risk-taking in vaccination, surgery, and gambling environments: Evidence from a framed laboratory experiment. Health Econ. 2017 Dec;26 Suppl 3:76-96. doi: 10.1002/hec.3620.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 4, 2019
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): July 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Anticipated): July 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 2, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 9, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 9, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2019
• Last Verified: April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 14507018

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Data will be uploaded to file sharing sites for sharing. Any identifying information will be removed before data sharing.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will become available after manuscript is published, for 5 years starting from publication date.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will only be made available for research purpose.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No