Increasing mammography among women aged 40-74 by use of a stage-matched, tailored intervention

Background. Tailoring is a promising technique for encouraging greater performance of health-related behaviors. Tailored interventions are designed to be more individualized to personal characteristics, in contrast to "standard" interventions where all participants receive the same materials. Methods. A total of N = 1864 women aged 40-74 were recruited from a staff model HMO and randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: (a) No Educational Materials, (b) Standard Materials, and (c) Stage-Matched Materials. A provider-directed component was common across all three conditions. The Standard and Stage Matched groups each received two mailed educational packets after baseline and followup telephone interviews. The Stage-Matched intervention was based on the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change. Results. Analyses of n = 1397 women (after all attrition) showed that receipt of mammography after the baseline interview was higher for the Stage-Matched group (63.6%) than for the No Materials group (54.9%; OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.10, 1.86), The Standard intervention group was intermediate (58.5%). The Standard group did not differ from the No Materials group, but did differ from the Stage-Matched group in multivariate analysis. Conclusions. Stage-matched, tailored materials may be a means to encourage screening mammography, Such interventions can be implemented by telephone and mail. (C) 1998 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.