In this guide, the audience refers to the African-American community. The audience is your primary consideration in developing culturally sensitive printed cancer education materials for two important reasons. First, the audience provides you with necessary information about its culture. Second, the audience provides you with information about its needs. African Americans share common patterns of interaction and perception and a historically transmitted system of symbols, meanings, and norms as part of their similar heritage. However, African Americans also comprise a diverse body of individuals with different social, economic, and cultural identities[18]. As a result, the message delivered in a printed cancer education material will not always be received the same way by all segments of the African-American community.

Printed cancer education materials for African Americans should: Address the overall concerns of African Americans related to factors affecting cancer incidence and mortality rates and Be sensitive to the concerns of individuals in the African-American community with different social, economic, and cultural identities.