Measuring the perception of trust: Two cultural approaches

Evidence suggests that US adults are trending away from having a primary care physician. Moreover, those from minority groups are even less likely to visit a usual healthcare provider. At the same time, Hispanics are more likely to have illnesses that can be prevented or mitigated with regular screenings, while maternal mortality rates among US Hispanics are rising. Consequently, enhancing perceptions about preventative care among underserved female populations is imperative in assuaging health disparities. Research suggests minority communities are often socialised with collectivist values, while medical marketing messages are often tailored to individualistic priorities. Consequently, preventative healthcare marketing messages may fail to capitalise on important cultural cues that can engender medical trust. This 2-by-2 experimental study compares the effects of culture-sensitive and culture-centred design approaches in preventative healthcare medical marketing messages on attitudes and medical trust levels among young adult Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women. Findings from 124 survey respondents revealed that in the area of fairness, the culture-centred message designed by in-group members elicited greater levels of trust among ethnically similar participants. However, the message created by the white out-group designer using the culture-sensitive approach elicited greater levels of global trust among non-Hispanic whites. These findings underscore the value of direct ingroup experience in designing preventative healthcare marketing messages.