The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #58589

John Elder, PhD, MPH¹, Guadalupe X. Ayala, PhD, MPH², Nadia R. Campbell, MPH¹, Donald Slymen, PhD¹, Barbara Baquero, BA¹, Eva T. Lopez-Madurga, MD, MPH¹, and Moshe Engelberg, PhD, MPH³. (1) Center for Behavioral and Community Health Studies, San Diego State University, 9245 Sky Park Court, Suite 221, San Diego, CA 92123, (619) 594-2395, jelder@mail.sdsu.edu, (2) Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, CB #7440, Rosenau Hall 315, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, (3) ResearchWorks, 11770 Bernardo Plaza Court, Suite 451, San Diego, CA 92128

The present study evaluated whether 1) personalized nutritional counseling via lay heath advisors plus tailored print materials were more effective than tailored print materials delivered in a “distance learning” format, 2) whether these two innovations were more effective than standard “off the shelf” materials targeted to a Latino population. Three hundred and fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to the three aforementioned conditions. The intervention was carried out over a 12-week period. The primary outcome variables were calories from fat and grams of fiber. The lay health advisor group achieved significantly better levels of energy, total fat, total saturated fat, and total carbohydrates, but not of dietary fiber. The relative superiority of the lay health advisor/tailored print condition may derive from the “personal touch” achieved in the face-to-face interactions with women. Alternatively, their success may be associated with the degree to which the women, under the guidance of the lay health advisor, truly interacted with the tailored print material.

Learning Objectives:

Those who attend this presentation will be able to:
• Understand the difference between targeting and tailoring health messages.
• Describe ways in which reactions to different types of tailoring vary in a population of Latinas.
• Critically evaluate the relative effectiveness of interpersonal and print communication in developing effective health communication.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.