ABSTRACT
For decades, health communicators have recognized the need to devote attention to disseminating health-related information to the public and motivating them to engage in a variety of healthy behaviors. Health communicators have also long acknowledged the importance of giving special attention to limited-resource individuals as they traditionally are less informed than the general populace and equally less likely to engage in such desired behaviors (Bergner & Yerby, 1968; Childers & Post, 1975; Freimuth, 1990; Hoff, 1966). Despite this recognition of needed educational and outreach efforts, there exists a level of resignation that these individuals have become disenfranchised within our society, that is, isolated or distanced from the mainstream population. Labels such as unreachable, disenfranchised, indigent, hard-to-reach, and chronically uninformed (Bazzoli, 1986; Childers & Post, 1975; Freimuth, 1990; Hoff, 1966) serve to perpetuate the notion that attempting to reach individuals living in poverty may be a fruitless endeavor. As Hoff (1966) suggested years ago perhaps the more appropriate label to use for this target population is "unreached" rather than "unreachable." Such a linguistic change emphasizes the potential for reaching these individuals.
