Working mechanisms of computer-tailored health education: evidence from smoking cessation.
To further develop tailored interventions, their working mechanisms must be identified. In the present study, three tailored messages that each contained one potential working mechanism--personalization, adaptation or feedback--were compared with a standard information condition. Two hundred and two students who smoked tobacco daily were randomly divided over four conditions. After the computer pre-test questionnaire, they read the information in their condition and filled in the immediate post-test. After 4 months, they were sent a follow-up questionnaire assessing their quitting activity. The data show that personalization (44.5%) and feedback (48.7%), but not adaptation (28.6%), led to significantly more quitting activity after 4 months than did the standard information (22.9%). Moreover, the effect of condition on quitting activity was completely mediated by individuals' evaluations of the tailoring.
Dijkstra
Arie
A
Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. a.dijkstra@ppsw.rug.nl
D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires