Tailored Health Communication to Change Lifestyle Behaviors
Abstract
Tailored health communication research represents a very promising line of inquiry that has the potential to produce major impacts on lifestyle behaviors. This study defines tailoring and discusses how tailored interventions operate, including comparing/ contrasting different tailoring channels. Next, the authors review the literature on tailored interventions to change lifestyle behaviors, with a focus on smoking cessation, dietary change, and physical activity, as well as interventions that address multiple lifestyle behaviors. Finally, future directions for tailoring research are discussed. To date, a large literature has amassed showing the promise of tailored programs delivered via print, Internet, local computer/kiosk, telephone, and interpersonal channels. Numerous studies demonstrate that these programs are capable of significant impacts on smoking cessation, dietary change, physical activity, and multiple behavior change. It is concluded that the potential of tailoring will be more fully realized as (a) the field builds a more cumulative science of tailoring and (b) greater dissemination of efficacious tailored programs takes place.
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Studies of personalization in health care and medicine have been increasing in number since the early 2000s, with growing evidence showing their effectiveness.
“Studies of personalization in health care and medicine have been increasing in number since the early 2000s [22], with growing evidence showing their effectiveness [23-26].”
From The Personalization of Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review (2019) · cites this paper as [23]
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“More recently, tailoring has been widely applied to Internet-based health promotion programs(20) and other new technologies.(32) As the Internet has become more sophisticated, with improved abilities to conduct surveys and deliver interactive programs, it has increasingly been a natural fit for tailored interventions.”
BackgroundUnderstanding tailoring in communicating about health
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“For instance, studies can test the proposition that personalization plays a greater role in attention to the message, whereas feedback plays a greater role in message processing and attitude change.(120) Tailoring researchers are also recognizing the potential of tailoring on variables beyond message content.”
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The Personalization of Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review
Kocaballi, A. B., Berkovsky, S., Quiroz, J. C., Laranjo, L., Tong, H. L., Rezazadegan, D., Briatore, A., & Coiera, E. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/15360 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
“Studies of personalization in health care and medicine have been increasing in number since the early 2000s [22], with growing evidence showing their effectiveness [23-26].”
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- Authors
- Noar, S. M., Grant Harrington, N., Van Stee, S. K., & Shemanski Aldrich, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
- University Honors Program, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN
- Corresponding author
- Noar, Seth M.
- ORCID
- Noar, Seth M.
- Venue
- American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-11-19
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 112-122
- ISSN
- 1559-8276 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-8284
- OpenAlex
- W2157669856
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 9.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
- Keywords
- tailored health communication, lifestyle modification, smoking cessation, dietary change, physical activity, online intervention, telephone-delivered intervention, interpersonal interventions
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