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

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)

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