ABSTRACTS

Volume 9, Number 3
May-June 2004

Vol. 9, Number 3: Contents | Editorial | Abstracts

The Impact of a Health Campaign on Health Social Capital
    Esther Thorson A1 and Christopher E. Beaudoin A2

A1 School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
A2 Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University-Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana

Referring to literature in sociology, mass communication, and public health, we conceptualize and operationally define “health social capital” and “individual health social capital” and then posit and test a model for its development in response to a public health media campaign. The campaign evaluated here was designed to stimulate behaviors that would provide a more supportive social environment for children and youth, an environment which we consider to be richer in aggregate health social capital. The association model of advertising was employed to explain the development of individual health social capital measures of awareness, attitude, and behavior. With cross-sectional data (1998, n=614; 1999, n=1,087; 2000, n=1,388), we examine the results for changes in awareness, attitude, and behavior over time and the significant links between these dependent variables and media campaign exposure. The results show significant increases in awareness and attitude, but not in behavior. Structural equation modeling revealed different patterns of influence for newspaper and TV campaign exposure.

Rewriting Public Health Information in Plain Language
     Rima E. Rudd A1, Kimberly Kaphingst A2, Tayla Colton A3, John Gregoire A4, James Hyde A5

A1 Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
A2 Dana Farber Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts
A3 Pathfinder International Watertown, Massachusetts
A4 Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Boston, Massachusetts
A5 Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Public health materials are often designed to inform and rally the public to spur action and maintain vigilance on important issues to family, work, community, and public policy. Limited access to public health information certainly curtails knowledge and awareness but may also hamper action and civic involvement. A growth in published assessments of health materials indicates an increased interest in the mismatch between the reading level of most health materials and the reading ability of the average adult. However, while several guidebooks offer suggestions for developing new materials, little attention has been given to the process of rewriting materials and grappling with bureaucratic language. We describe, in this case study, a process we used to assess and then rewrite a federally mandated report to consumers about the quality of their water.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Use of the UV Index Amongst the West Australian Public
     Ann Blunden A1, Tony Lower A2, Terry Slevin A3

A1 Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
A2 Department of General Practice, Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia
A3 Education and Research, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

The ultraviolet (UV) index provides an opportunity to warn people about the degree of hazard that exists on a particular day and subsequently lead to the adoption of sun protective behaviors. While the UV index has been promoted in Australia for some time, little research has been conducted into the understanding and use of the index. As such, a random telephone survey of 501 adults was conducted in December 1999 to gather data into the public's understanding and use of the UV index in Perth, Australia. A high awareness of the UV index existed among the respondents, with 90% indicating they had heard of the term UV index. However, only 5% indicated they had noticed the UV index/forecast for that particular day. The results indicate that a campaign to increase awareness of the UV index by the public is not warranted, but that efforts should be focused on developing tools to communicate behavior change messages linked to the UV index levels. The research was conducted with funding from Healthway, Health Promotion Foundation of Western Australia.

Learning from truthsm: Youth Participation in Field Marketing Techniques to Counter Tobacco Advertising
    Merrill Eisenberg A1, Chris Ringwalt A2, David Driscoll A3, Manuel Vallee A4, Gregory Gullette A5

A1 The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
A2 Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
A3 Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
A4 The University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
A5 The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

In 2000, the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy) launched truthsm, a national, multi-medium tobacco control social marketing campaign targeting youth age 12–17. This paper provides a brief description of one aspect of that campaign, the truthsm tour, and compares and contrasts the truthsm tour with commercial field marketing approaches used by the tobacco industry. The methods used for the tour's process evaluation are also described, and two important lessons learned about using field marketing techniques and using youth to implement field marketing techniques in social marketing campaigns are discussed. Social marketing campaigns that target youth may want to launch field marketing activities. The truthsm tour experience can inform the development of those efforts.

Involving Husbands in Safe Motherhood: Effects of the SUAMI SIAGA Campaign in Indonesia
     Corinne L. Shefner-Rogers A1 and Suruchi Sood A2

A1 Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
A2 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Maternal death has implications for the entire family, although few, if any, interventions have addressed the role that the husband could play in his wife's pregnancy and delivery. The Suami SIAGA Campaign in Indonesia was a multi-media entertainment-education intervention, implemented in 1999/2000, that targeted husbands with messages about birth preparedness. The present paper presents the effects of this campaign (1) on the acquisition of new knowledge by husbands about birth preparedness, and (2) on husbands' action toward becoming an alert husband (a Suami SIAGA). When husbands were directly exposed to the messages from the Suami SIAGA campaign, new knowledge gain and birth preparedness activities occurred. However, the interaction of direct exposure to the campaign and the interpersonal communication stimulated by the campaign about Suami SIAGA was an even stronger predictor of knowledge gain and birth preparedness actions. Limitations of the study included post-only measures and a relatively short time period between the intervention and impact evaluation. We suggest that communication campaigns to educate husbands and to stimulate discussion about the innovative concept of birth preparedness may contribute to improved birth outcomes in Indonesia.

The Impact of Emotional Tone, Message, and Broadcast Parameters in Youth Anti-smoking Advertisements
     Lois Biener A1, Ming Ji A2, Elizabeth A. Gilpin A3, Alison B. Albers A4

A1 Center for Survey Research, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
A2 Graduate School of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services San Diego State University, San Diego, California
A3 UCSD Cancer Center Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
A4 Social & Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

Objectives. In the context of controversy regarding the optimal characteristics of anti-smoking advertisements for youth, this study examines the impact on recall and perceived effectiveness of variations in the message, emotional tone, reach and frequency of broadcast, remoteness of broadcast, and characteristics of the adolescent audience such as changes in smoking behavior, ownership of cigarette promotional items, and demographic variables. Method. A two-wave longitudinal survey of a population-based sample of 618 Massachusetts youth 12 to 15 years old was carried out in 1993 and 1997. A Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) approach was used to model the recall and perceived effectiveness of eight advertisements as a function of viewer and ad characteristics. Results. Advertisements featuring messages about serious health consequences which had been independently rated as high in negative emotion were more likely to be recalled and were perceived as more effective by youth survey respondents than ads featuring messages about normative behavior for teens or ads relying on humor. Advertising intensity, while contributing to recall, was negatively related to perceived effectiveness.Conclusions. This study supports mounting evidence that negative emotion in anti-smoking advertisements is effective with youth audiences.

Book Review

Communication in Thailand
Thomas M. Steinfatt. (2002)
Reviewed by Lawrence R. Frey, University of Colorado at Boulder