Racial/Ethnic Disparities and Segmentation in Communication Campaigns

Abstract

There are disturbing racial disparities in many health outcomes. However, do health communicators know how to do interventions that redress disadvantage? This article describes what communication campaigns do to address disparities, looks for evidence that segmented campaigns reduce disparities, and describes evidence that might support segmentation decisions (about behaviors, messages, channels, or message executions). The authors note arguments that segmentation can risk negative effects yet find no evidence about whether race or ethnicity-conscious segmentation reduces disparities. Nonetheless, with evidence, some approaches to segmentation are justified on commonsense grounds and for their political legitimacy.