Targeting Versus Tailoring of Online INFORMATION: can Bowel Cancer Screening Decision Stage be Used to Predict an INDIVIDUAL’S Information Needs

Abstract

Background: Tailoring content is a way of improving health behaviours but it’s complex and not always effective. Targeting aims to present information to ‘groups’ of users. The present study investigates if bowel cancer screening decision-stage is a suitable variable for targeting techniques. Method: N=1,387 Participants completed a questionnaire assessing decision stage, as well as preferences for categories of information. Results: Decision stage predicted preferences for certain categories of information: individuals who had never heard of screening were twice as likely to preference ‘information about bowel cancer’ over ‘information about screening’ (OR=1.98), and more likely to preference ‘information about screening’ over ‘information about completing a screening test’ (OR=1.73). Demographics including age and sex were unrelated to preferences. Conclusions: This study suggests that individuals at different decision stages prefer to engage with different types of content. Thus, it might prove beneficial to use decision stage as a targeting variable when presenting web-based content.