Key constructs, definitions and measures (adapted from Witte et al40)
| Definitions of constructs | How measured on RBD scale or other |
|---|---|
| Perceived threat: awareness of a specific harm in the environment, consisting of | Total of perceived threat scores |
| Susceptibility to threat: belief about one's risk of experiencing the threat | Subtotal of susceptibility scores |
| Severity of threat belief about the magnitude of the threat | Subtotal of severity scores |
| Perceived efficacy: thoughts about ease, feasibility and the effectiveness of averting the threat, consisting of | Total of perceived efficacy scores |
| Self-efficacy: belief in one's ability to perform recommended response | Subtotal of self-efficacy scores |
| Response efficacy: belief about effectiveness of recommended response to avert the threat | Subtotal of response efficacy scores |
| Danger control dominance: the dominant response in the person faced with a threat, who considers themselves able to perform the recommended response, believes the response to be effective, therefore tries to reduce the danger by taking positive action (protective motivation) | High-efficacy score and high-threat score |
| Danger control responses (protective motivation): beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviour changes in accordance with the message recommendations | Score from intentions to quit/seek help scales (Wong and Cappella) and responses to MTSS questions |
| Fear control dominance: the dominant emotional response in the person when faced with a threat, who feels unable to perform the recommended response and/or believes the response to be ineffectual, and tries to psychologically reduce their fear by defensive motivation | Low-efficacy score with high-threat score |
| Fear control responses (defensive motivation): coping responses that diminish fear | Score from questions about defensive avoidance, denial, reactance, message derogation and perceived manipulation |
| Critical point: when perceptions of threat begin to outweigh perceptions of efficacy, causing shift from danger control to fear control processes | The exact critical point can vary with topics and populations |
| Discriminating value: a numerical value used to discriminate between people in danger vs fear control | Formula: (∑ perceived efficacy)−(∑ perceived threat)=discriminating value A positive score indicates danger control processes; a negative score indicates fear control processes |
| Protective responses: similar to danger control responses, but beliefs/attitudes are centred around protecting others from tobacco smoke | Score from 5 new measures to attitudes about smoking exposure for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, babies and children |
RBD, risk behaviour diagnosis; MTSS, motivation to stop smoking; Σ, sum of.