Foot-in-the-Door and Cancer Prevention

Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique was applied to a health care setting to determine if this compliance method could be used toward increasing cancer prevention rates. Self-perception was used as the theoretical explanation for the FITD technique. Subjects were mall merchants attending the setting during two days of a scheduled area health fair. Two groups were run. One cell received both a first and second request (the FITD cell), while the control cell received only the second request. As expected, statistically significant effects indicated higher compliance rates of the FITD group. Attitude measures concerning the general topic of prevention and the topic of breast and cervical cancer prevention were taken. Attitudes of the FITD group were expected to be more favorable than the attitudes of the control group. Consistently results indicated a reverse attitude effect. Implications of the findings are discussed. Alternative explanations to self perception were offered.