Planting the Seeds of Prevention - Siteman Cancer Center

8 The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center
Kreuter previously evaluated the effectiveness of storytelling
in a series of studies comparing videos using the narrative
approach with videos employing a more didactic, instructional
style of information delivery. While study participants learned
new information from both videos equally, they remembered
it longer after watching stories. The narrative videos were liked
better, evoked more emotion and prompted greater motivation
to get a mammogram compared to the non-narrative videos.
Also effective are interactive kiosks that generate customized
publications on the spot. Kreuter and his team developed
the kiosks to deliver health information to women at high risk
for breast cancer. The kiosks pose questions about breast cancer
and mammography, and women select answers on the screen.
The kiosks then create and deliver a magazine, Reflections of You,
with breast-cancer information tailored to each individual user.
Kreuter wanted to know where kiosks could be placed to
reach the most women and women who needed the information
most acutely — those who had never had a mammogram or were
poorly informed. For almost four years, kiosks were placed in
Claudia Gálvez reads a newsletter she created using a touch-screen
beauty salons, churches, libraries, coin laundries, social service
computer kiosk at the Catholic Charities Southside location. Matthew
Kreuter’s team developed the kiosk for Spanish-speaking women — as
agencies and health centers throughout St. Louis. Results showed
well as kiosks for African-American and Bosnian women — to deliver coin laundries were the most promising locations.
customized breast cancer information in a community setting.
Kreuter is now in discussions with the Coin Laundry
Association and the nation’s largest chain of coin-operated
laundries to put kiosks into laundromats across the country. He says this sort of immediate,
practical application distinguishes prevention research from bench science, where a promising
compound might not become an effective drug for years or even decades. His work to
tailor messages that reflect the language and value systems of his subjects can be taken up
immediately by community organizations to improve health.
Sherrill Jackson, founder and president of the Breakfast Club, a breast-cancer support
group primarily made up of African-American women in St. Louis, says she and her
organization have worked with Kreuter on a number of projects to craft communications
that resonate with the intended audience. “We are very candid with our opinions and
suggestions in reviewing materials,” she says. “Criticism of your work is not easy to hear.
However, Dr. Kreuter listens and makes changes. His imagery is accurate, and he delivers a
positive message. I think we arrive at communications that are very effective and honest.”