Question 1
Hypothesis: Women who are given a coherent explanation of the link between smoking and cervical cancer have greater intentions to stop smoking.
Aims:
To compare the effectiveness of women provided with a detailed or minimal explanation of the link between smoking and cervical cancer in increasing their perception of the problem.
To assess the impact of the leaflets on perceptions of threat and efficacy and intentions to stop smoking.
To examine how having a better understanding of how smoking and cervical cancer are linked, impacts their intentions to stop smoking.
Question 2
The independent variable is the leaflet. The leaflet changes between three groups, one group received a detailed leaflet, another received a minimal explanation leaflet and the last group had no leaflet. These changes determine the impact that the leaflet has on the outcome.
Question 3
Following is the constructs that the researchers measured:
1) Severity
2) Vulnerability
3) Response efficacy
4) Self efficacy
5) Coherence
6) Intentions
Question 4
Each construct is described below:
1) Severity - A single 7-point scale was used to measure perceived severity.
2) Vulnerability - single 7-point scale was used to measure conditional vulnerability in the questionnaire that was sent a week after the leaflet. The question asked, “How likely do you think you are to develop cervical cancer if you carry on smoking?”
3) Response efficacy - was measured using a two 7-point scale. It measured the extent to which smoking would reduce vulnerability.
4) Self efficacy - was measured using a two 7-point scale.
5) Coherence - was measured using a two 7-point scale. It measured the level of understanding between smoking and cervical cancer.
6) Intentions - was measured using a two 7-point scale.
Note: For the two 7-point scales the mean of both scales were used for the analysis.