Psychological distance from breast cancer and women’s self-screening intention: a construal level perspective

Psychological distance is considered as the distance individuals maintain regarding particular objects or events, yet how women’s psychological distance from breast cancer affects their self-screening intentions remains unknown. This study, via two online experimental surveys, investigated the effects of psychological distance from breast cancer (proximal vs. distant) and message framing (risk vs. efficacy) on women’s self-examination intentions. Study 1 (N = 196) explored the influence of breast cancer psychological distance on women’s screening intention. Study 2 (N = 224) investigated whether and how message framing influences screening intention under different psychological distance conditions. Our findings showed that psychological distance from breast cancer had a significant negative influence on screening intention (β = -0.287, p < 0.001), and the moderating effect of message framing on the relationship between psychological distance and screening intentions was revealed (β = -0.470, p = 0.009). Specifically, psychological distance was significantly negatively associated with screening intentions in both risk and efficacy framing. Moreover, compared with efficacy framing, the promoting effect of decreasing psychological distance from breast cancer on women’s screening intentions was stronger in the risk-framing condition. This study extends the construal-level theory of psychological distance to understand the antecedents and psychological mechanisms of women’s breast cancer screening intentions, and provides practical strategies for future women’s health intervention campaigns.