Encouraging young males to perform testicular self-examination: a simple, but effective, implementation intentions...

The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a simple psychological intervention known as 'implementation intentions' to promote performance of testicular self-examination (TSE) in a sample of young males.

A prospective, randomized controlled design measured knowledge of testicular cancer, prior experience with TSE and intention to perform TSE within a 3-week period. Participants in the intervention group were instructed to formulate specific plans for when and where they would perform TSE. Three weeks later, a second questionnaire assessed self-reported performance of TSE during the study period and future intention to perform TSE. One hundred and fifty-nine male undergraduates aged between 18 and 35 were assigned, at random, to an intervention or non-intervention group. Men over 35 were excluded so that the sample reflected the highest risk age group for testicular cancer. Just under half the original participants (76/159) completed the study. We measured performance of TSE and future intention to perform TSE.

Responders and non-responders did not differ on any of the measures assessed at Time 1. At Time 2, 30 (65%) participants in the intervention reported performing TSE compared with 12 (40%) in the control condition, and chi-squared analyses revealed that the difference was significant.

The implementation intentions intervention procedure, which encourages the use of environmental and contextual 'cues' to prompt a desired behaviour, appears to offer a promising strategy for encouraging the performance of TSE.