Name: Emily Gleaton

School of Psychology – Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Thursday, March 19th 

Time: 12:00 PM –2:00 PM

Location: Georgia Tech Library Dissertation Defense Room, Price Gilbert 4222 

Zoom Meeting link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95559942545

Dissertation Chair/Advisor: 

Richard Catrambone, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Bruce Walker, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology)

Mengyao Li, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology)

Hsiao-Wen Liao, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology)

Bradley Fain, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Communications Policy)

Title: A Framework for Designing Health Promotional Materials: An Integrated HBM–UTAUT 2 Approach

Abstract: Self-initiated preventive health behaviors, such as self-monitoring and self-examination, can support earlier detection of disease and improve long-term health outcomes. Despite the benefits of early detection and routine preventive behaviors, many individuals do not engage in these behaviors due to barriers such as low perceived risk, skepticism about benefits, and perceived difficulty. This dissertation synthesizes the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT 2) into a combined model to better explain intention to engage in preventive health behavior. It also introduces a complementary intervention framework to develop actionable guidance for targeting constructs that might influence behavior change. Study 1 consisted of two mixed-methods usability studies used to refine intervention materials. Across both parts, participants rated the intervention flyers as usable, clear, and informative. Qualitative findings indicated that information about the risk and consequences of disease increased awareness and perceived relevance; however, participants consistently requested more actionable guidance, suggesting that risk information alone was insufficient. Study 2 used a pretest-posttest factorial experiment to compare intervention conditions. Results showed that the efficacy intervention group had reduced perceptions of effort and increased perceptions of utility, self-efficacy, knowledge, and intention to engage in a preventive health behavior. In contrast, the risks and consequences of disease intervention groups did not demonstrate increased perceived threat beliefs or increased behavioral intention to engage in preventive behavior. Study 3 examined a refined combined HBM-UTAUT 2 model and tested hypothesized direct and indirect pathways using latent-variable modeling. The efficacy intervention significantly predicted positive change in self-efficacy, effort expectancy, and performance expectancy, but indirect effects on behavioral intention were not supported. These results suggest that capability and expectancy beliefs are more responsive to brief message-based interventions than disease risk and consequence messaging. This distinction has important implications for both theory development and the design of scalable preventive health interventions.