Public relation and cultural aesthetics: designing health brochures

Brochures continue to be one of the most common tools available to health public relations practitioners. However, few studies have focused on the best ways to design health brochures for minority publics. Yet statistics show that African Americans and members of other minority publics suffer higher incidences of mortality from many diseases than do Caucasians. This two-part study examines ways to better design brochures to appeal to African American women. The study reveals that African American women prefer designs that reflect their cultural aesthetics. Part one of this study identifies a number of preferred design characteristics. Part two of this study tests the effectiveness of a culturally tailored brochure that advocates mammography screening. Results indicate that the brochures promoted significant gains in knowledge about breast cancer and mammography screening, a positive shift in perceived benefits of mammography, and a reduction in perceived barriers to getting mammograms. The brochure was preferred over standard "off the shelf" brochures that are not culturally tailored. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]