Motivations and barriers to engagement with consumer health innovations: the impact of media framing on direct-to-consumer genetic testing adoption intent

Abstract

Through the lens of Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, specifically the theory of Perceived Attributes, this dissertation firstly examines key factors leading to or deterring adoption of direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) for health information through qualitative interviews with prospective customers. Results indicate that the main motivations include finding out perceived beneficial health information and comparisons to testing via medical providers. The main deterrents for adoption were reported to be privacy concerns, perceived susceptibility to conditions, and the desire to remain uncertain about one’s genetic health risk. Additionally, this dissertation considered the role of issue-specific media framing on adoption intent. A second study consisting of an experiment used media framing theory to determine which factors would lead to a higher likelihood of adoption. Results revealed that media framed to discuss the perceived advantages of the technology had the highest likelihood of adoption. Implications for theory and industry are discussed throughout this dissertation.