To Tailor or Not to Tailor: An Investigation of Narrative Tailoring for Health Communication

Abstract

One possible way of enhancing the effectiveness of health narratives is by using tailoring. However, evidence of the effectiveness of narrative tailoring is mixed. Some studies have found tailoring to be effective, while others have found no difference between tailored and non-tailored stories. One explanation for these mixed results is that much of the previous research in this area has focused on purely demographic factors. This study aimed to determine whether or not adding theoretically derived tailoring dimensions provides benefits above and beyond demographic tailoring. Participants (N = 812, aged 18-26) were assigned to either a facts only control condition, a non-tailored narrative, a demographically tailored narrative, or a demographically and theoretically tailored narrative. Across all conditions, the stimuli focused on the benefits of the HPV vaccine. Results found that the narrative conditions outperformed the control, but there was no significant difference between tailoring conditions on vaccination expectations, narrative transportation, identification, or perceived personalization. Further analysis showed that perceived personalization and narrative transportation predicted vaccination expectations across all narrative conditions.