OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of the effect of face-to-face delivered tailored health messages on patient behavior and applications for practice. DESIGN: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Systematic searches of a number of electronic databases were conducted and criteria for selection of studies were specified. RESULTS: 6 experimental studies published between 2003 and 2009 were included. The studies were all randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of a face-to-face tailored messaging intervention. There were variation in their research design and methods used to randomize. All participants were aged at least 18 years. All of the studies reported positive changes in participants' health behavior with varying degrees of effect size and duration. A meta-analysis of the available data also confirmed an overall positive effect of tailored messaging on participants' health behaviors. CONCLUSION: The systematic review and the meta-analysis demonstrate a significant and positive effective of face-to-face tailored messaging upon participants' health behaviors. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Health practitioners should be encouraged to allot time in their work routines to discover their patients' psycho-social characteristics and felt needs in order that they can provide a tailored health message to enable the patient to adopt health-promoting regimes into their lifestyle.
With permission from Excerpta Medica Inc.

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