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Systematic Review
The authors state:
"This systematic review aimed to determine the effects of mass media interventions targeting adult ethnic minorities with messages about physical activity, dietary patterns, tobacco use or alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of NCDs."
The authors state:
"Six studies met the inclusion criteria, including three RCTs, two cluster‐RCTs and one ITS. All were conducted in the USA and comprised targeted mass media interventions for people of African descent (four studies), Spanish‐language dominant Latino immigrants (one study), and Chinese immigrants (one study).
Relevant interventions promoted healthier behaviours related to physical activity, dietary patterns, tobacco use or alcohol consumption.
Targeted mass media interventions versus no intervention: one study (154 participants of African decent) reported effects for our primary outcomes. Participants in the intervention group had access to 12 one‐hour live programmes on cable TV and received print material over three months regarding nutrition and physical activity to improve health and weight control. Change in body mass index (BMI) was comparable between groups 12 months after the baseline (low quality evidence). Scores on a food habits (fat behaviours) and total leisure activity scores changed favourably for the intervention group (very low quality evidence).
Targeted mass media interventions versus a mass media intervention plus personalised content: findings are based on three studies (1361 participants). Participants in these comparison groups received personal feedback. Two of the studies recorded weight changes over time. Neither found significant differences between the groups (low quality evidence). Evidence on behavioural changes, and knowledge and attitudes typically found some effects in favour of receiving personalised content or no significant differences between groups (very low quality evidence)."
The authors state:
"The available evidence is inadequate for understanding whether mass media interventions targeted toward ethnic minority populations are more effective in changing health behaviours than mass media interventions intended for the population at large. When compared to no intervention, a targeted mass media intervention may increase the number of calls to smoking quit line, but the effect on health behaviours is unclear. These studies could not distinguish the impact of different components, for instance the effect of hearing a message regarding behavioural change, the cultural adaptation to the ethnic minority group, or increase reach to the target group through more appropriate mass media channels. New studies should explore targeted interventions for ethnic minorities with a first language other than the dominant language in their resident country, as well as directly compare targeted versus general population mass media interventions."