PHYSICIANS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MAMMOGRAPHY - DO TAILORED MESSAGES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Objectives. Message tailoring, based on individual needs and circumsta nces, is commonly used to enhance face-to-face patient counseling. Onl y recently has individual tailoring become feasible for printed messag es. This study sought to determine whether printed tailored recommenda tions addressing women's specific screening and risk status and percep tions about breast cancer and mammography are more effective than stan dardized printed recommendations. Methods. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with 435 women, aged 40 to 65 years, who ha d visited family practice groups within the previous 2 years. Subjects were randomly allocated to receive individually tailored or standardi zed mammography recommendation letters mailed from physicians to patie nts' homes. Follow-up interviews were conducted 8 months later. Result s. Tailored letter recipients were more likely to remember and to have read more of their letters than standardized version recipients. Afte r controlling for baseline status, tailored letter receipt was associa ted with more favorable follow-up mammography status for women with in comes below $26 000 and for Black women. Conclusions. Tailored message s are a more effective medium for physicians' mammography recommendati ons; tailoring may be especially important for women of low socioecono mic status.