ArticlePsychology & health2023
Expanding the analysis of mechanisms of action in behavioral interventions: cognitive change versus cognitive activation.
Article in Psychology & health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Participants' Evolving Experiences, Hope, and Coping While Enrolled in a Community-Based Bereavement Support Program: A Pre-Post Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- An Age-Progression Intervention for Smoking Cessation: A Pilot Study Investigating the Influence of Two Sets of Instructions on Intervention Efficacy.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Activation Versus Change as a Principle Underlying Intervention Strategies to Promote Health Behaviors.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Review
- Social cognition theories and behavior change in COVID-19: A conceptual review.Behaviour research and therapy · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo understand the mechanisms of action underlying behavioral interventions, researchers typically examine whether the treatment changes cognitions and whether changes in cognition predict behavior (
designThe research comprised a validation experiment (
main outcome measuresAt both baseline and follow-up of the RCT, smokers self-reported threat appraisals, coping appraisals, and smoking restraint.
resultsIntervention messages heightened the accessibility of threat appraisals compared to control messages (validation experiment). In the RCT, smoking restraint increased among intervention participants but not controls. Trial arm showed no corresponding change in threat or coping appraisals. However, trial arm interacted with baseline health cognitions such that synergies between threat appraisal components, and between threat appraisals and coping appraisals, predicted smoking restraint for intervention participants but not for controls.
conclusionOur findings support a cognitive activation process whereby health messages on cigarette packs increase the impact of pre-existing threat appraisals on smoking restraint.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.