MARIA JOÃO FIGUEIRAS (**)

NUNO CORREIA ALVES (**)

CARLOS BARRACHO (**)

RESUMO

O presente estudo avaliou o valor preditivo da Teoria da Acção Planeada na intenção de adoptar comportamentos preventivos para o cancro da pele em indivíduos saudáveis. Pretendemos identificar quais os preditores da intenção comportamental quando foram considerados factores como a representação emocional da doença e os níveis de optimismo. Os resultados indicaram que existem diferenças significativas nos componentes da Teoria da Acção Planeada entre indivíduos com representações emocionais mais positivas vs. mais negativas, assim como entre os níveis de optimismo. A percepção de controlo percebido sobre o comportamento foi o preditor mais significativo da intenção comportamental para prevenir o cancro da pele. O nível de optimismo influencia de forma positiva a intenção comportamental, contribuindo de forma significativa para a percepção de controlo sobre o comportamento. Os resultados indicam ainda que os níveis de optimismo e a representação emocional da doença desempenham um papel importante no que se refere à intenção comportamental para prevenir o cancro da pele e devem ser considerados quando se desenham intervenções ou outros tipos de acção para a prevenção do cancro da pele em indivíduos saudáveis.

Palavras-chave: Teoria da Acção Planeada, cancro da pele, percepção da doença, representação emocional, optimismo, crenças.

ABSTRACT

The present study assessed the predictive value of the Theory of Planned Behaviour on the intention to adopt preventive measures for skin cancer in healthy individuals. The identification of the predictors of behavioural intention for skin cancer was done after taking into consideration the emotional representation of the disease and the level of dispositional optimism. The results indicated that there are significant differences on the components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour between individuals with positive vs. negative emotional representation of skin cancer, as well as the level of dispositional optimism. Perceived control over the behaviour was found to be the most significant predictor of intention to adopt preventive measures for skin cancer. Dispositional optimism has an important influence on the explained variance on intention, being the perception of perceived behaviour control the most significant predictor. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the emotional representation of skin cancer and dispositional optimism may have an important role for the adoption of preventive measures and should be considered for designing health promotion intervention in healthy individuals.

Key words: Theory of Planned Behaviour, skin cancer, illness perceptions, emotional representation, dispositional optimism, health beliefs.

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(*) Este estudo é parte do projecto de investigação: Health Beliefs and Common-Sense Models Of Illness: financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - POCTI/FEDER - Ref. 36366/2000.

(**) Instituto Piaget - Campus Universitário de Almada