Background: Latina women are significantly less likely to utilize cancer screenings than Non-Hispanic White women (American Cancer Society, 2021). Early parental encouragement may increase the likelihood of screening utilization as research has emphasized the role of mothers in communicating the importance of female health screenings (Moore de Peralta et al., 2017). Moreover, telenovelas, which utilize technology and story-telling, can be used as culturally congruent media for presenting health messages to Latino audiences as an intervention strategy to initiate change (Crist et al., 2015). Yet, no empirical studies have developed and tested the efficacy of a video-drama based on traditional Latina/o values to increase intentions of women wellness screenings among Latina women.
Objective: This study tested the efficacy of a brief telenovela video-drama intervention to increase intentions of utilizing women wellness screenings among adult Latina Women. We hypothesize that viewing the short-length scripted telenovela video-drama will increase participants intentions and positive attitudes to utilize women wellness cancer screenings as well as increase perceived behavioral control and willingness to discuss women wellness screenings with family members.
Methods: Based on themes from interviews with Latina women, a scripted telenovela was developed and implemented as an online survey. Latina-identifying adult women (N = 68; M age = 37.41, SD = 11.80) were asked about attitudes, intentions, and familial communication about women wellness screenings prior to and after viewing the 15-minute video telenovela intervention.
Results: Over 57% of participants report having had a screening in the last year. Most participants (65%) retrospectively reported a lack of parental communication regarding women wellness screenings. Perceiving the telenovela to encourage screenings (M = 4.70, SD = 1.09) significantly predicted intentions to receive a screening (B = 0.41, SE = 0.19, p = .03) and intentions to make an appointment (B = 0.61, SE = 0.18, p =.001) in the next year.
Conclusions: Culturally-driven interventions delivered through telenovela-dramas appear to encourage health behavioral change. Specifically, this intervention produced immediate changes in intentions to utilize cancer screenings among Latina women, which are important predictors of future behavioral engagement.