Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: May 21, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: May 21, 2026 - Jul 16, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
NOTE: This is an unreviewed Preprint
Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint (What is a preprint?). Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn (a note "no longer under consideration" will appear above).
Peer review me: Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period (in this case, a "Peer Review Me" button to sign up as reviewer is displayed above). All preprints currently open for review are listed here. Outside of the formal open peer-review period we encourage you to tweet about the preprint.
Citation: Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author).
Final version: If our system detects a final peer-reviewed "version of record" (VoR) published in any journal, a link to that VoR will appear below. Readers are then encourage to cite the VoR instead of this preprint.
Settings: If you are the author, you can login and change the preprint display settings, but the preprint URL/DOI is supposed to be stable and citable, so it should not be removed once posted.
Submit: To post your own preprint, simply submit to any JMIR journal, and choose the appropriate settings to expose your submitted version as preprint.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Targeted versus Tailored Messages to Promote Cancer Screening Participation: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial Based on Data-Driven Psychosocial Profiles in Campania, Italy
ABSTRACT
Population-based cancer screening programmes are designed to enable early detection and timely treatment of selected cancers, with the ultimate aim of reducing morbidity and mortality; yet participation remains critically low in the Campania region of southern Italy. Within the MIRIADE project, previous studies identified psychosocial antecedents of cervical, breast and colorectal cancer screening adherence (attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, self-identity, anticipated regret, action and coping planning). Based on these variables, a profiling study identified data-driven psychosocial subgroups among citizens eligible for colorectal cancer screening (CRCS; three profiles) and female-only cancer screenings (FOCS; four profiles), and one study developed and validated a framework for multiple reasons for screening participation. Building on these empirical foundations, the present paper describes a protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the efficacy of targeted and tailored persuasive messaging strategies—and a usual-care control—for promoting screening participation. The T0 baseline assessment was conducted as part of the companion profiling study, during which participants completed psychosocial measures and ranked their personal reasons for screening participation, after which they were profiled via Reduced k-means. At T1, participants are randomly allocated to: (a) a targeted condition, receiving a persuasive message adapted to their profile’s psychosocial characteristics; (b) a tailored condition, receiving a message that additionally integrates the individual’s most personally relevant reason for screening; or (c) a usual-care control. The primary outcome is post-intervention screening intention (T1). A six-month behavioural follow-up (T2) assesses self-reported screening uptake. Message effectiveness and personal relevance are evaluated as process outcomes. Pre-tests with a subsample ensure message adequacy. This protocol provides a theory-grounded, empirically informed framework for experimental comparison of targeted and tailored interventions for both colorectal and female-only cancer screenings. It employs data-driven profiling, integrates individually relevant reason-based content, and is designed for scalability within regional public health infrastructure. Protocol version: Version 1.0, 15/05/2026.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.