Matching health messages to monitor-blunter coping styles to motivate screening mammography

Williams, P., Pizarro, J., Schneider, T. R., Mowad, L., & Salovey, P. (2005). Matching health messages to monitor-blunter coping styles to motivate screening mammography. Health Psychology, 24(1), 58-67. DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.1.58

This study examined whether providing messages matched to women's monitor-blunter coping styles is effective in encouraging mammography utilization. Female callers to a cancer information hotline were assessed at the end of their regular telephone call and classified as monitors or blunters. A randomly assigned message promoting mammography utilization, tailored for monitors or blunters, was delivered on the telephone, and a similarly tailored brochure and refrigerator magnet were mailed to participants immediately after their call. Women were telephoned 6 and 12 months later to determine whether they had obtained a mammogram. Messages matched to a woman's monitor-blunter coping style encouraged mammography after 6 months more effectively than mismatched messages and were significantly more effective for blunters but not for monitors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)