Tailored Health Communication to Change Lifestyle Behaviors

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.