Segmentation Screening Tool to Identify Health-Related Decision-Making Audience Segments

Health communication and intervention activities aim to support a range of health-related behaviors, including health risk and protective behaviors, health insurance and provider choices, and health care and treatment decisions. These communication and intervention activities employ a range of modes, including media campaigns, direct interactions, and educational materials. To improve the effectiveness of communication and intervention activities, the Segmentation Screening Tool (SST) was developed to identify audience segments for assessment of health-related decision making and to support the development of customized communication or intervention activities to support decision making, using two items. The Revised SST was developed for a broader adult audience; therefore, the revised tool (rather than the original tool) should generally be used moving ahead. For research purposes, the two items can be included in a screener to place individuals into focus groups based on segment or included in a survey instrument or interview protocols to permit assessment of differences across segments; the research findings can then be used to inform or improve customized communication or intervention activities. This paper summarizes the research to date on the development and validation of the SST, synthesizing findings from multiple studies.