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A Randomized Controlled Study of Short-term and Long-term Effects of Tailored Information versus General Information on Intention and Behavior Related to Early Detection of Cancer¹

Departments of Health Education and Promotion [J. d. N., H. d. V.] and Methodology and Statistics [M. C.], Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands, and Department of Psychology, Open University, Heerlen, the Netherlands [L. L.].

The effects of computer-tailored information and general information on passive detection (i.e., being alert to cancer symptoms) and help-seeking intention (i.e., consulting a physician with possible cancer symptoms within an appropriate time) were assessed and compared with those in a control group, in a randomized controlled study with a pretest and two posttests. Shortly after the intervention, significant differences between the study groups were found in passive detection and help-seeking intention. Six months after the intervention, there were still differences between the tailored information group and the control group in passive detection and help-seeking intention. We conclude that there were very positive effects of the tailored intervention on passive detection and help-seeking intentions and behaviors in the short term, but additional research is needed to assess ways of maintaining these effects in the long term.

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