Defining and targeting an audience for cancer-prevention messages.

The target audience for cancer-prevention messages is not the cancer patient. Cancer-prevention messages should be designed for and directed toward groups of people who have been determined to be at risk for the disease. Potential audiences may vary widely in size and nature, depending on the specific cancer, its cause, and its etiology. The prevention of specific disease, eg, lung cancer, typically demands some behavior on the part of the recipient of a cancer-prevention message. Thus, members of a target audience may be asked to stop smoking or to refrain from starting. Each potential target audience is likely to be unique and cannot always be reached with typical mass-media campaigns. Messages designed to be effective for such special audiences may be required if a significant impact on behavior is to be obtained. This article attempts to identify potential audiences for cancer-prevention messages and develops the nature of the media to be used, the sources to be employed, and the arguments to be developed in such a campaign. Characteristics (eg, sex, race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status) are used as examples of variables that may dictate the nature of cancer-prevention campaigns.