Design of the BRISC study: a multicentre controlled clinical trial to optimize the communication of breast cancer risks in genetic counselling

Background: Understanding risks is considered to be crucial for informed decision-making. Inaccurate risk perception is a common finding in women with a family history of breast cancer attending genetic counseling. As yet, it is unclear how risks should best be communicated in clinical practice. This study protocol describes the design and methods of the BRISC (Breast cancer RISk Communication) study evaluating the effect of different formats of risk communication on the counsellee's risk perception, psychological well-being and decision-making regarding preventive options for breast cancer. Methods and design: The BRISC study is designed as a pre-post-test controlled group intervention trial with repeated measurements using questionnaires. The intervention-an additional risk consultation-consists of one of 5 conditions that differ in the way counsellee's breast cancer risk is communicated: 1) lifetime risk in numerical format (natural frequencies, i.e. X out of 100), 2) lifetime risk in both numerical format and graphical format (population figures), 3) lifetime risk and age-related risk in numerical format, 4) lifetime risk and age-related risk in both numerical format and graphical format, and 5) lifetime risk in percentages. Condition 6 is the control condition in which no intervention is given (usual care). Participants are unaffected women with a family history of breast cancer attending one of three participating clinical genetic centres in the Netherlands. Discussion: The BRISC study allows for an evaluation of the effects of different formats of communicating breast cancer risks to counsellees. The results can be used to optimize risk communication in order to improve informed decision-making among women with a family history of breast cancer. They may also be useful for risk communication in other health-related services. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTNI4566836

Why do consumers stop viewing television commercials? Two experiments on the influence of moment-to-moment entertainment and information value

This research demonstrates the positive effects of moment-to-moment entertainment and the negative effects of moment-to-moment information value on consumers' likelihood to continue watching during a television commercial. A notable finding is that both the entertainment and the information value have a strong multiplicative effect on the probability to stop viewing

Why do consumers stop viewing television commercials? Two experiments on the influence of moment-to-moment entertainment and information value

This research demonstrates the positive effects of moment-to-moment entertainment and the negative effects of moment-to-moment information value on consumers' likelihood to continue watching during a television commercial. A notable finding is that both the entertainment and the information value have a strong multiplicative effect on the probability to stop viewing.</p

Why do consumers stop viewing television commercials? Two experiments on the influence of moment-to-moment entertainment and information value

This research demonstrates the positive effects of moment-to-moment entertainment and the negative effects of moment-to-moment information value on consumers' likelihood to continue watching during a television commercial. A notable finding is that both the entertainment and the information value have a strong multiplicative effect on the probability to stop viewing.</p

Visual attention to advertising:The impact of motivation and repetition

Using eye-tracking data, we examine the impact of motivation and repetition on visual attention to advertisements differing in argument quality. Our analyses indicate that repetition leads to an overall decrease in the amount of attention. However, while at first high motivation subjects attend to the ad for a longer time than low motivation subjects, this effect of motivation disappears after two exposures. More specifically, our results suggest that the second exposure counts most. In contrast, the order in which the ad elements am attended to is unaffected by repetition and motivation. Yet, the number of ad elements that are skipped becomes larger as the number of exposures increases. Implications of our results for theories of advertising repetition are formulated.</p