Because it has been found to enhance the relevance and impact of health messages, making health communication and other behavior change programs culturally sensitive has become a core principle of public health. As noted in the Annual Review of Public Health 2024, while it is normative for researchers and practitioners to develop, select, or adapt evidence-based interventions for their population and setting of interest, the extent to which principles of cultural sensitivity are applied in health communication and other behavior change interventions has not been examined adequately. The goal of a manuscript in that periodical is to examine how cultural sensitivity has been used to tailor health communication to change health behavior. The authors explore if the inability to optimize the practice of making health communication culturally sensitive is due to a lack of rigor in the application of the principles and strategies or if the issue is with the principles and practices.
These investigators examined progress and challenges in designing, implementing, and evaluating culturally sensitive behavioral interventions by tailoring health communication to groups or individuals. After defining common tailoring constructs (i.e., culture, race, and ethnicity), cultural sensitivity, and cultural tailoring, they looked at when it is useful to tailor and address cultural sensitivity in health communication by group tailoring or individual tailoring and when tailoring health communication may not be necessary or appropriate for achieving behavior change. After reviewing selected approaches to cultural tailoring, they critiqued the quality of research in this domain with a focus on the internal validity of empirical findings. Next, they explored the ways in which cultural sensitivity, group targeting, and individual tailoring have incorporated culture in health promotion and health communication. They concluded by articulating yet unanswered questions and suggesting future directions to advance the field forward. Determining whether culturally tailored messages are in fact perceived as being more relevant and salient, leading to increased receptivity to behavior change messages, remains an important research priority if the goal is to reduce health inequities, improve the health of specific populations, or pursue health equity.