Entertainment-Education Narrative Versus Nonnarrative Interventions to Educate and Motivate Latinas to Engage in Mammography Screening.

BACKGROUND: The evidence is limited comparing the effects of entertainment-education (E-E) narrative versus nonnarrative interventions to educate and motivate Latinas to engage in mammography screening.

AIMS: This study compared an E-E narrative intervention to two nonnarrative interventions' effects among Latinas on breast cancer knowledge and motivation, as measured by changes in self-efficacy, behavioral norms, and behavioral intentions to engage in mammography screening.

METHOD: A sample of 141 Spanish-speaking Latinas was randomly assigned to one of three arms: an E-E narrative video, a nonnarrative educational video, and printed educational materials. Using a repeated measures design, the influence of the E-E narrative on pretest to posttest measures was assessed and compared to the influence of the other two interventions.

RESULTS: The E-E narrative and nonnarrative interventions significantly increased Latinas' breast cancer knowledge, mammography self-efficacy, and behavioral norms from pretest to posttest. However, the E-E narrative participants' pretest to posttest difference in mammography self-efficacy was significantly higher when compared to the difference of the other two interventions. The effect of the E-E narrative intervention on self-efficacy and behavioral norms was moderated by the participants' absorption in the story and identification with the story characters.

CONCLUSION: E-E narrative and nonnarrative interventions significantly educated and motivated Latinas to engage in mammography screening. The effects on mammography self-efficacy, an important precursor to behavior change, can be more strongly influenced by E-E narratives.

DISCUSSION: Although E-E narrative and nonnarrative interventions were effective, the need still exists to assess if they can ultimately influence lifesaving breast cancer screening behaviors.