Tailoring Messaging for Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening

When developing health communications, it is tempting to create messaging with the broadest possible appeal. However, research shows that health messaging produces greater changes in health behavior when it has been tailored to reflect the needs, values, and motivations of a specific community. Tailoring messaging can be a daunting process, especially for organizations that are trying to reach a new population or who haven’t tried tailored messaging before. It requires a deep understanding of the priority population and a lot of investment on the part of the organization and the community they hope to reach. 

In partnership with the ACS NCCRT, One Health Insights developed Tailoring Colorectal Cancer Screening Messaging: A Practical Coalition Guide for those looking to make highly effective campaigns to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates. We designed this guidebook to build upon existing ACS NCCRT resources by giving coalitions and their partner organizations a better understanding of what tailoring messaging looks like in practice. For this tool, we focused on sharing tangible tips and strategies for developing impactful tailored health messaging that work.

ACS NCCRT identified five organizations—ranging from a rural state cancer coalition to one of the nation’s largest community health center networks— who had recently completed a CRC screening tailored messaging campaign. Our staff interviewed ten individuals across those organizations, synthesizing their insights and advice to allow readers to see how a range of different organizations made the most of their available resources to develop materials that resonated with their target audience. 

Learn more about the tool on ACS NCCRT’s website.

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