TAILORING

What is Tailoring?
One of the many challenges faced in health care is trying to meet the diverse needs of many people with limited resources. From helping someone quit smoking or manage asthma to eating healthier or making an informed decision about health care treatment- our ability as health educators to help prevent or manage disease is limited. For example, some programs are too generic. While they may be widely distributed and reach many people, they don't necessarily have an impact. Other programs are too costly. While they may help individuals, the expense prohibits them from reaching many people. So the question is, how can we reach so many people and have a significant impact on their health? One approach is through the art and science of tailoring.

"Tailoring is any combination of information or change strategies intended to reach one specific person, based on characteristics that are unique to that person, related to the outcome of interest, and have been derived from an individual assessment."

Just like a one-on-one conversation with a health professional, a tailored communication is based on an exchange of information that results in information or guidance that is personally relevant and meaningful to an individual. Effective health behavior tailoring requires the collection of measures associated with the behavior change process to help an individual make improvements in his or her health.