Effects of Cultural Tailoring on Persuasion in Cancer Communication: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis examined the persuasive impact of culturally tailored messages in cancer communication. The study sample includes 36 articles with 58 experimental pairs (N = 30,006). Results showed that culturally tailored cancer messages had an overall small and significant influence on persuasion (r =.120, p <.001). Deep tailoring, which integrates the cultural values, norms, and religious beliefs of the target ethnic group, had a significantly stronger effect compared to surface tailoring, which only incorporates surface cultural features such as language, diet, and risk statistics. Moreover, the moderating effects of cancer types, ethnicity, message format, media channels, message design approach, gender, and study design factors were explored. The theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed.