Check Out That Body: A Community Awareness Campaign in New York City
The authors evaluate the effectiveness of the small media campaign in raising community awareness about the importance of going for a health check up. Data were collected over time from 535 respondents ages 15-30 years using cross-sectional surveys in two low-income, predominantly African-American communities in New York city. Regression analyses indicated campaign material recognition at 15 months was significantly higher in the intervention community relative to the comparison community. There were no significant changes in social norms, attitudes, or beliefs. Media campaigns aimed at adolescents and young adults on a community-wide level are an effective means of gaining material recognition. Editors' Strategic Implications: This research illustrates the effect of a public health media campaign on awareness, but it also serves as a reminder to public health officials that awareness is not necessarily sufficient to promote attitudinal or behavioral health changes.
Community-based interventions often include a mass media component to frame or reinforce health promotion and disease prevention efforts (Merzel and D'Afflitti 2003). The use of media such as television and radio has demonstrated success in increasing awareness of health issues, creating positive attitudes and social norms for preventive behaviors, and, in some cases, changing behavior (Farrelly et al. 2002; Futterman et al. 2001; Palmgreen et al. 2001; Wallack 1981). There is minimal evidence, however, of the impact of inexpensive, small-media community campaigns that rely on store front displays and material distribution.
Check Out That Body (COTB), a small-media community awareness campaign in Harlem, New York, was designed to convey a message about the importance of getting a health check up. COTB was one component of a larger multi-level, multi-site, intervention study, the Gonorrhea Community Action Project (GCAP). GCAP was designed to test the feasibility of various intervention strategies to reduce community prevalence of gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted infections in three communities with high gonorrhea rates. These intervention strategies were developed within a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework (Israel et al. 1998; VanDevanter et al. 2002). As the community-level intervention specific to Harlem, COTB was implemented with more intensive, skill-building interventions that occurred simultaneously at the provider and individual/adolescent levels. Here we describe the development of a small-media campaign and assesses COTB effectiveness in raising community awareness of campaign materials.
Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
The authors evaluate the effectiveness of the small media campaign in raising community awareness about the importance of going for a health check up. Data were collected over time from 535 respondents ages 15-30 years using cross-sectional surveys in two low-income, predominantly African-American communities in New York city. Regression analyses indicated campaign material recognition at 15 months was significantly higher in the intervention community relative to the comparison community. There were no significant changes in social norms, attitudes, or beliefs. Media campaigns aimed at adolescents and young adults on a community-wide level are an effective means of gaining material recognition. Editors' Strategic Implications: This research illustrates the effect of a public health media campaign on awareness, but it also serves as a reminder to public health officials that awareness is not necessarily sufficient to promote attitudinal or behavioral health changes.
Introduction
Community-based interventions often include a mass media component to frame or reinforce health promotion and disease prevention efforts (Merzel and D'Afflitti 2003). The use of media such as television and radio has demonstrated success in increasing awareness of health issues, creating positive attitudes and social norms for preventive behaviors, and, in some cases, changing behavior (Farrelly et al. 2002; Futterman et al. 2001; Palmgreen et al. 2001; Wallack 1981). There is minimal evidence, however, of the impact of inexpensive, small-media community campaigns that rely on store front displays and material distribution.
Check Out That Body (COTB), a small-media community awareness campaign in Harlem, New York, was designed to convey a message about the importance of getting a health check up. COTB was one component of a larger multi-level, multi-site, intervention study, the Gonorrhea Community Action Project (GCAP). GCAP was designed to test the feasibility of various intervention strategies to reduce community prevalence of gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted infections in three communities with high gonorrhea rates. These intervention strategies were developed within a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework (Israel et al. 1998; VanDevanter et al. 2002). As the community-level intervention specific to Harlem, COTB was implemented with more intensive, skill-building interventions that occurred simultaneously at the provider and individual/adolescent levels. Here we describe the development of a small-media campaign and assesses COTB effectiveness in raising community awareness of campaign materials.
SHARE
