Persuasive health educational materials for colorectal cancer screening

摘要

This paper describes an effort to design and evaluate persuasive educational materials for colorectal cancer(CRC) screening. Although CRC screening is highly effective, screening rates in the US remain low.Educational materials represent one strategy for educating patients about screening options and increasingopenness to screening. We developed a one-page brochure, leveraging factual information from theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and national guidelines, and strategies for persuasionfrom the human factors and behavioral economics literatures. We evaluated the resulting brochure withadults over the age of 50. Findings suggest that the educational brochure increases knowledge of CRC andscreening options, and increases openness to screening. Furthermore, no significant difference was foundbetween the new one-page brochure and an existing multi-page Screen for Life brochure recommended bythe CDC. We interpret these findings as indication that the more practical and potentially less intimidatingone-page brochure is as effective as the existing multi-page Screen for Life brochure.