Information Women Receive About Heart Attacks and How It Affects Their Knowledge, Beliefs, and Intentions to Act in a Cardiac Emergency

Abstract

In this study we investigate (a) what information women receive on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from different information sources, (b) how women evaluate this information, and (c) how information acquisition is related to women's knowledge of AMI, personal risk perceptions, and behavioral intentions regarding a cardiac emergency. A random sample of 844 women 50 years and over were telephoned in the state of Washington. Repeated measures regression analyses showed that women receive most of their information on AMI from the mass media, even though they evaluated the media as less believable, less useful, less clear, and making less of an impression than information received from health care providers. Logistic regression analyses showed that the total number of information sources from which heart attack information was received in the past year was positively related to knowledge of AMI symptoms, beliefs about AMI, and personal risk perceptions. The results are discussed in terms of their pragmatic implications.

Factors Associated with Blue-collar Workers' Risk Perception of Cardiovascular Disease

“…In this study, we found a positive association between CVD knowledge and risk perception among participants. This is consistent with other study findings (Choi et al, 2008;Homko et al, 2008;Jones et al, 2007;Meischke et al, 2002). Therefore, lack of CVD knowledge may contribute to low level of risk perception.…”

“…Perceived health status was found to be strongly associated with CVD risk perception, as has been shown in previous studies (Frijling et al, 2004;Meischke et al, 2002). These results suggest that blue-collar workers who report their health status to be good feel less vulnerable to having any diseases, including CVD.…”

“…Several studies have reported that family history of MI and hypertension significantly increased personal risk perceptions of CVD (Choi, Rankin, Stewart, & Oka, 2008;Frijling et al, 2004). Some studies, however, noted that a personal history of MI did not increase perception of risk (Meischke et al, 2002;van der Weijden, van Steenkiste, Stoffers, Timmermans, & Grol, 2007 (Frijling et al;Jones, Weaver, & Friedmann, 2007).…”

“…More knowledge of CVD and poorer health status were associated with higher CVD risk perception (Choi et al). Communicating the results and implication of health risk appraisal could effectively change the perception of those at high risk (Meischke et al, 2002).…”

Building a health promotion agenda in local newspapers

“…A 1997 national poll commissioned by the National Health Council and Robert Starch Worldwide entitled 'Americans Talk about Science and Medical News' [as cited in (Johnson, 1998)] showed that the respondents' primary sources of medical news were television (40%), doctors (35%), magazines or journals (35%) and newspapers (16%). Studies by Johnson and Meischke (Johnson and Meischke, 1992a,b) clearly identified media as a main source of cancer-related information and a study by Meischke et al (Meischke et al, 2002) showed that women reported mass media as the most frequently reported source of information on heart attacks, followed by health care providers.…”