Een kwestie van voorkeur? Een experimentele studie naar het aanpassen van gezondheidsinstructies aan de voorkeur voor modaliteit van de ontvanger

Tailoring the mode of delivery to improve recall and behavioral intention: a matter of preference?Tailored interventions using content tailoring have been shown to be effective in improving different health behaviours. Nonetheless, the overall effect sizes remain small suggesting room for improvement. This study examines whether tailoring to mode preference is more effective than non-tailoring in terms of recall and intention to perform breast self-examination (BSE). BSE instructions were either tailored to the participant’s mode preference (text, text with illustrations, or video) or non-tailored by randomly providing one of these modes. Results of an online experiment among 205 female participants showed that the intention to perform BSE was higher if the instruction was tailored to the mode preference. There were no effects of tailoring on recall of information. This study shows that we should move beyond content tailoring and should take into account the mode of delivery to meet individual’s needs and increase the effectiveness of tailored messages.