Did people understand spoken cancer prevention messages?

Details

Health messages on television and other mass media may significantly influence public health knowledge and behavior, but little is known about how well people understand them.

To investigate understanding of spoken information about cancer prevention and screening, researchers recruited 44 adults from 3 sites to view 6 messages aired on television and the internet. Participants were asked to paraphrase main points and selected phrases. The researchers used qualitative analysis to identify content accurately recalled and paraphrased and to describe misunderstandings and misconceptions.

Most participants accurately recalled and paraphrased the gist of the messages. However, overgeneralization, loss of details, and confusion or misunderstandings about specific concepts were common. For example, some believed preventive behaviors were more protective than stated, misremembered the recommended screening age, or interpreted “early stage” as a stage of life rather than a cancer stage.

The researchers concluded that differences in the public’s ability to understand spoken media messages may limit the effectiveness of public health campaigns and provider-patient communication. They called for more research to identify message characteristics that make spoken media messages about cancer easier to understand and improve comprehension.