Evaluation

Oh evaluation. This is a term near and dear to my heart at this point in my life as I will be doing a program evaluation for my thesis! I found this weeks lecture to be particularly interesting obviously because of my thesis, but also because it is so important. Programs and interventions are great tools for helping people and organizations create real change, but as I think Manpreet pointed out, they are successful in accomplishing this goal if they are in fact effective programs. I found reviewing the different types of evaluation (process, impact, and outcome) to be helpful in understanding evaluation in a systematic lens as well. I am excited to use some of these tools when I begin my research because while I helped design the health program at the school where I teach and I think it is fantastic (I have to gloat a little), I won't really know it's impact until I do the impact evaluation. Likewise, I won't know what worked well, what did not work at all, and how I could recommend improvements, unless I do the evaluation.

Final Thoughts...

This week's lecture about evaluation is the culmination of our semesters journey through health communication methods and ways.  Evaluation is probably one if not the most important feature of reflection and justification of a program.  Evaluation can aid in correcting and consolidating programs as well as offering necessary feedback to help progress the program and catch any errors.

In my current internship I record and enter the data for the PHE presentation evaluations.  During this process I note any comments made by participants or instructors and observe their quiz responses to see if they are adequately absorbing the information.  This process allows the program and the Peer Health Educators to grow in their presentation skills and content of material. without evaluation we would never know if our health campaigns are successful or if we are even making a difference, negative or positive.  For a health promotion student, evaluation is not my favorite area of research but i understand the need and appreciate the outcome.

In the future of my career within health promotion I will value the lessons taught in health communication and try to use them to further my message and also accurately disseminate my information.  Without accurate evaluation, all of our work will be in vain.  The moral of this story, speak softly but carry a big stick.

Evaluation

This week we talked about the importance of evaluation. I agree with what Liz said in class: "It's worse to have a bad intervention, than no intervention at all." If your intervention isn't doing what it's supposed to do, then why put the time, money and effort into it? But how do you know if it's a "bad intervention?" Evaluation!

If you think about it, you need evaluation results to see if what you are doing works, prove the method works or doesn't work, develop and advise future projects, show key stakeholder what you have accomplished, and make notes on what, if anything, you need to change as you carry out the process. What surprised me was what I learned about the D.A.R.E. program. My school took part in that program when I was in elementary school, and I recently learned after evaulating the program, researchers found that it did not have a positive effect on its target population. This program was widely used, and if they had pilot tested the program or evaluated as they went along, they would not have ended up putting so much time and resources for this program. It's rather unfortunate.

The big take away message from this lecture is that evaluation is extremely necessary! Regardless of if the program/intervention is working or not because researchers, consumers, stakeholder, etc. should know if what they are investing in will give the biggest bang for the buck!

Janice's Last Reflection

Evaluation is the 'icing on the cake' for a health campaign. In other words, to 'top it all off,' one must know whether or not his or her campaign is working for the better. As Sheila mentioned in class, there are campaigns that have negative affects on the target population i.e. D.A.R.E program. Evaluation via pre/post-test and evaluation during a health campaign is needed to be sure that it is working in a positive manner i.e. working in a way in which people ARE making behavior modifications and changes to improve their health status.

Evaluation is an arena I already partake in my current occupation. After completion of training parents about the importance of oral health, the program I work for needs feedback regarding the information I disseminated. Making sure I have reached, or even exceeded, the audience's expectation with the training session allows my co-workers and I to plan our educational material accordingly. If parents learned something new after witnessing my presentation, great; however, whether or not they learned something new and are going to put that new knowledge to use in the future is what we, in the public health field, are trying to target.

Positive feedback from surveys I hand out at the end of the trainings are good, but negative or constructive feedback is better. Allowing the target population offer feedback makes way for new insight for one's program and gives the general public the opportunity to constructively criticize one's program in order to make changes which can be seen as building blocks for a more effective health campaign.

Health Communication Evaluation

This week's presentation about evaluation of the Truth campaign made me think about my days as an internal evaluator for the California Smokers' Helpline. When I was an undergrad, I worked for 1-800-NO-BUTTS which is partnered with UCSD. My job was to call clients who had used the program at different time intervals (I think 6 and 12 months after using the service) in order to assess their satisfaction of the program and assess their current behaviors. Boy, this was a memorable learning experience about behavior change! I mean at times it was really hard to follow-up with clients and obtain their feedback if they had not been successful in quitting smoking. For some people, talking about their relapse and/or inability to reach or maintain the target behavior change was difficult and uncomfortable to do. On the other hand, those clients who did agree to participate in the 15 minute telephone survey provided valuable feedback for the program. A small monetary incentive (I think it was a $10 or $15 check) was also mailed to clients who completed the evaluation. Back then, I knew that the info we were collecting was valuable to improving the program. But now I realize that the info we obtained was applicable to process, impact, and outcome evaluation of the program.

Look how far we've come...

This week we got a chance to present our project and were given the opportunity to see what everyone else has done. I really enjoyed the class, and seeing how everyone's project progressed throughout the semester since the last set of presentations. One of the things that was reiterated throughout the presentation was the importance of formative research, because despite what you may think or feel as a researcher, only your target audience can tell you what works for them and what doesn't.

I feel that every group did a great job, and was excited to hear that some groups may actually have their final product be officially incorporated in the settings they intended, and having it become more than just a class project. It really establishes a sense of pride and confidence in what we are learning and how we can apply it in real life settings.

Presentations Reflection

I unfortunately had to leave early from class this week and missed the Sex group which I heard was a very innovative presentation! However, I did get to see the physical activity group and present with my group. I really enjoyed the PA groups presentation and the print media they created. I think they did a great job of really considering that their target audience view these messages were not only children but their parents as well. Working with students myself I was interested to hear the feedback that the students gave the group and it sounded like they received some great feedback. The group members said they were surprised that the calendar with the word on the days was the most popular among the students and I was too. Many of the students I work with are very visual and I would have anticipated them enjoying the pictures more than the calendar with words (goes to show you what I know about kids!). I'm excited to see what this group does for project 3 and it sounds like the school was really excited to keep working with them.

I am also happier with this group presentation! Even though we had to change some things literally right before the presentation, I felt like we communicated our message and purpose more confidently this time (although I haven't seen our grade for it yet :\). I also think our group did a great job of working together early and problem solving when our people didn't show up for the focus group (we practiced our presentation and marketing skills in the library too!). Great job team!

Janice's Reflection #10

This week we had our presentations for Project #2. It seems as though our health campaign was 'well received' this time around. (Not like our first presentation was horrible or anything... this time around, we were more confident about our project). But, now that we've gotten into the meat and potatoes of our campaign, everything about our project is becoming more cohesive.

Just as we learned from our first class meeting, it is crucial to do formative research on your health topic. We definitely have learned the importance of formative research throughout this semester.

Since this semester began, I have found myself taking note of the different channels of media we live with on a daily basis. I find that I ask myself, "are they targeting low or high involvement?" It's interesting to note different tv commercials or advertisements on Facebook since the company who put the message out there most likely went through the same training we are going through in this course.

11/21 reflection

I thought all the group presentations this week were really good and creative. The physical activity group did a nice job of creating 5 different print messages for their two segments of children. The results from their focus group were interesting to learn about which messages were the most popular among the segments. I, personally, would not have predicted that the calendar message to have been as popular as it was. In the end, the group learned that the messages should actually be flip-flopped between the segments. I thought the Gardasil video was especially creative and that it was an appropriate channel for their target audience. I also liked the group's sample Facebook page and how it provided an example of a social media outlet for their message. From all the group presentations, the most important thing that I took away this week was the power of focus groups and feedback from the target audiences. This is extremely important when designing health communication messages because without the direct feedback from the target audience, there is no way of knowing whether or not the message is appropriate or effective for that particular group.

Presentation week reflection

This week we gave our presentations for project #2.  I was interested to see how other groups interpreted the assignment.  In a health communication class that has really given us free creative reign on the details of our campaigns, the variety is interesting to see.  Based on the frameworks provided in class, everyone addressed their topics with proper channels and methods, but seeing their execution was awesome.  The SexFXu campaign was awesome because I never would have thought to actually make a video to post on youtube or to air on tv.  This was such a good idea for targeting their intended population.  I really thought that our group's materials were excellently made and applied well to our target population. The suggestions that we got from our focus groups were the most helpful in really getting an idea  of what this group wants and needs.  For the next project we are going to utilize all the information we got.


On a side note, as I was driving to the coffee shop where our MPH cohort and friends and I like to study, i made a realization.  I truly am a Trendsetter! haha! But it's true! Our friend Alexis had been going to Filter for months before she finally invited me to join her. As soon as i stated studying there, all my other MPH cohort friends stated.  Now, on a consistent basis, we all meet to study, talk, laugh and write together. Just putting my health comm knowledge into relevance! yay!

Different Things for Different People

This week one of the student presentations was on The Healthy Penis Campaign, and how different cities had slightly different media campaigns. San Francisco's messages were positive and humorous, while Los Angelos used a more serious approach. This presentation really caught my attention for a few reasons: 1) I thought humor wasn't very effective and 2) People seemed to appreciate positive messages.

This is something that directly relates to our own campaign on making healthy choices. One suggestion that was made by some of our low involvement focus group participants was to add statistics to our posters (which oddly enough, an article we read earlier in class suggests statistics are more for the highly involved). Not only was the addition of statistics suggested, but using positive messages was emphasized. People want to see how they can improve themselves, their looks, their health. Not how certain eating habits can potentially lead to heart attack or stroke. This experience really stressed the importance of formative research and getting feedback on materials despite what is expected for the segments. Not everyone in a segment is necessarily going to agree, or follow the pattern you expect.

11/14 reflection

This week's student presentation about syphilis campaigns in different U.S. cities was pretty interesting. The Healthy Penis campaign established in San Francisco was an example of a social marketing approach that used humor and positive messages to provide information about the STI issue. An approach I consider to be quite rare in promoting health education and especially STIs. I thought it was funny and witty to see comic strips highlight the "Phil the Sore" and "Healthy Penis" as a way to bring attention to the importance of getting tested for syphilis among MSM. It would be great if we had some kind of similar marketing using humor at Planned Parenthood to educate and motivate other segments of community to get tested.

In our group messages for project 2, we also attempted to use humor (although more subtle) as a social marketing approach. But I think using humor can sometimes be difficult to apply in social marketing and a careful balance has to be identified. The syphilis campaigns identified in class were good examples of how cartoon messages using humor can convey important health information to receptive communities.

Reflection 11/14

This week I read an article about Media Advocacy and was intrigued by the idea of advocacy in general. I enjoyed our guest lecture as a compliment to the information I had ascertained from the article I read and it helped foster some good thoughts for our project. In a hypothetical sense our group is considering doing a social media page for our low involvement group and some sort of television news effort for our high involvement group. When I consider all of this I think these methods are great for providing general information to our target audiences to continue and promote the behavior we are looking for, but is it right for advocacy efforts?

I don’t think so. I think if we are to consider efforts of advocacy we would need to work with the university television system and local networks to “expose” the situation of unhealthy food options in the dining halls. I think in order to do this in real life we would need to be able to show the situation as it exists and find students that were willing to demonstrate or protest for change. I realize this is all hypothetical but I think for our project we should consider some form of a media advocacy campaign by which we share news releases or what-have you to help promote the issue.

Janice's Reflection #10

On Sunday, we had our focus groups. Being that it was the first time I've ever been involved with setting up a focus group, I think it went rather well and it was definitely a great learning experience. Our health campaign print media went through a lot of constructive criticism. Hearing about the likes and dislikes of their initial reactions/feelings about the posters was really interested as well as exciting. Here we were, after weeks of hard work, putting it to the test, and checking to see if our campaign would work in the 'real world' with our target population. The on-campus residents offered a lot of good feedback on areas that needed improvement, and overall, the messages were well-received and considered positive, creative, gender-friendly, and eye-catching.

Some of the feedback was interesting to hear, such as adding a 'positive' statistic to our low involvement print media. So, when our group debriefed after the focus group, we thought about re-making our low involvement messages by going through the 'back door.' We felt that certain statements made by going through the 'back door' may have a bigger influence on those who have a low involvement in making healthy eating choices. We are now going to the drawing board and thinking of creative messages that would capture this segment of our target population.

In the end, we want our messages to provoke positive thoughts in those who walk by and read our print media. We are aware that many college students are 'stubborn' about the food choices they make due to individual reasons. So, hopefully we are able to brainstorm new and insightful ways of capturing the attention of both segments we have chosen for our project.

11/7 reflection

This week I presented on marketing strategies as well as public relation firms assisting public health campaigns. I learned a lot of good points and techniques for reaching the masses as well as saw the scope of a true media campaign from launch to evaluation.  I do not think my article was particularly relevant to our 663 project because our project is such a small scale endeavor, however it is helpful to know for my future.

In class we watched a film about the females portrayal in the media and how manipulation has succeeded in creating a skewed perception of reality for many women (and men) around the world.  I've never seen this exact video however I've read numerous articles and watched many television stories pertaining to this common practice of depreciation.  Being a bigger girl myself, I find ads to be completely irrelevant to me, or they make me feel awful about myself because I've never been a thin girl and I probably wont in the near future.  Even after working out for a year with a personal trainer I still am the same size (less body fat, more muscle but still same weight).  This discouraging fact has made me resign to the fact that I will never be able to shop at Forever 21 or other similarly average serving retail stores.
Regardless of these facts I think an important lesson can be learned from this video is that marketing is used in so many ways with so many different results.  Within public health the literal relevance is little, in my opinion, save for the fact that it alerts us of poor body image issues among women (not a news flash).    However, I do believe the real take home message of this video is that health communication can be so many different things but we need to be aware of and utilize its potential for persuasion.

Within our project I think the applicability would pertain to how we are really going to influence students' behavior using posters or social media...

Killing Me Softly Reflection

I found this week’s lecture very interesting. The video we watched, “Killing Me Softly 3” was informative and provocative. I have always known about the impact media can have on the trends and behaviors of people, but I feel like this video was a more direct demonstration of this idea. I thought it was particularly interesting when the video emphasized the point that many ads on TV or in print use models in ways that have nothing to do with the product, and give no information about the products uses.

I originally heard about this video when I was designing the curriculum for the health class I currently teach. One of my colleagues, a former health educator, said it was a great video to show our students when we teach the nutrition and body awareness portion of our class. After watching this video, one fact that was emphasized really stood out as pertinent for these kids to hear: That the majority of the ads advertised use a body type that only the minority actually have. While I think teenagers, and people in general, realize this fact simply by looking around, it is nevertheless disheartening to hear someone comment on the attractiveness and oogle the goodies of a person and body type that is actually not even obtainable.

When I see videos like this it makes me appreciate advertising that is creative, tasteful, doesn’t make anyone feel bad or starve themselves, and is most importantly, effective. I know when we worked out our posters for our media campaign we were thoughtful to use different body shapes, and in the end actually focused just on the message itself; the food. I think we did a good thing by letting the food speak for itself, and after today’s focus group it seemed as though our audience understood what we were aiming for

Killing Us Softly

Killing Us Softly is a movie, that despite its own age, should be viewed by everyone, especially marketing firms. The message this movie shares with viewers is the indirect effects of how media portrays women irregardless of the product. We see this now, possibly more blatantly, than ever before, and it has become commonplace. Yes, we agree that women are objectified and made into sexual symbols, and we know that it's wrong. But the fact of the matter is, what are we doing about it? A sense of hope arrises when I see certain campaigns that promote real women with real bodies such as the Dove campaign that promotes self-esteem in young girls, but what about the companies that simply state "sex sells." They believe sex can sell anything from cars to condoms or from watches to gum. But why? Why does "sex sell?" Maybe we should look at why our perception of sexualized images is so appealing. I think its disheartening when you flip through the magazine and all you see are thin, tall, flawless women, posed with a backdrop of everyday reality. With this juxstaposition of images placed everywhere, from tv ads to magazines, to billboards...how are girls expected to feel confident when the images that surround them, remind them (remind everyone for that matter) that reality is just not quite as wonderful as what could be...if things were pefect...but not what we would imagine as perfect...but what others show us is perfect. How far does one need to be pushed for this trend to stop, and a healthier message be proposed?

Janice's Reflection #9

Last semester, I took Women's Studies 572: Women & Violence as an elective. It was an interesting and informative class about women in society and ways in which their rights are violated. The film we watched last week called "Killing Us Softly" was a basic overview of everything we covered last semester in the Women's Studies course. This film shows a variety of advertisements portraying how females are used in advertisements and viewed as less human than a male. In the business advertising world, this must prove that women and sex sell an array of products. Apparently, this manner of advertising 'works' in our culture since advertisement after advertisement women are photographed in such vulnerable ways. It would be interesting to find out how much a company would lose in profit if feminists did not purchase products where women are depicted as not being equal to their male counterparts. My hypothesis is that it must not be much as these products are able to continue making new waves of advertisements year after year.

Today we meet with our focus group and I am excited to find out what they think about the print media we have drawn up for our health campaign. We always welcome constructive criticism and hopefully our ideas portray our overall idea of the campaign Delish&Nutrish.

Advertising

The video we watched in class "Killing Us Softly" was pretty interesting on how it analyzed everyday ads & their messages. It's sad to realize that even though society has progressed forward over the past decades in areas like technology & medicine that when it comes to advertising notion that sex sells has continued to be accepted and is more visual than ever. It's all about the T&A! Whether it's a print ad in a magazine, a t.v. commercial, or video game women usually are portrayed for their curvaceous body parts. While men are rarely sexually objectified. Kilbourne also pointed out how ads can influence young children about gender roles and even race. The messages, whether overt or subliminal, that ads send affect our society at a young age. I think it is important to reflect on this video and the information it presented when creating health promotion ads. Especially since the message behind public health should be to serve the common good and empower the public with education.

10/31/10

Since i wasnt in class this week I can not comment on the exciting lecture i missed from Dr. Elder :(  However, what I have been thinking about this week, not necessarily related to branding, but to health communication marketing in general.  This week I was sick and able to stay home to watch some mid-day TV...not only are the shows awesome (um, hello divorce court!!!) but the commercials are very different and obviously aimed at the stay at home family members.  One commercial that I was able to catch was targeting Rheumatoid Arthritis patients and their physical exercise.  It was such a sophisticated commercial I almost thought i was watching an info-mercial about a piece of exercise equipment rather than a funded campaign to improve RA suffers physical activity.  The commercial really addressed all the problems and questions/concerns that RA suffers face (my mom's BFF was diagnosed in HS and I have grown up watching her struggle).  The website and subsequent physical activity plan was developed and implemented by the University of California, Berkeley and The Cooper Institute.  The activity plan is adjustable and has the capability to be tailored to the individual's needs and limitations by still stressing increasing physical activity for better health and increased joint mobility.  Here is the link to the website and the commercial...


http://myrafitkit.com/rheumatoid-arthritis-exercise-program.aspx

Janice's Reflection #8

Our group's creative juices are really beginning to flow! This weekend we brainstormed our print media ideas for our focus groups and we even posed as models for our own campaign posters. It was really interesting getting our thoughts down on paper for both groups (high and low involvement). We had to get ourselves in the right mind set for each group in order to create appropriate slogans. Like we learned in this week's readings, we want to be able to deliver on our promises and make sure we have memorable quotes. Branding is an important aspect of our project. Our group has to draw up creative ideas that will make our health campaign stand out among others.

I recently 'stumbled upon' this health campaign for HIV testing. What is it? It's a sticker that was unknowingly 'slapped' on the recipient's back. The result "In the first month of the campaign, there was an 80% increase in phone calls to the clinic; the calls resulted in 70% increase in HIV tests." My thoughts: simple and smart.

Credits: http://pzrservices.typepad.com/advertisingisgoodforyou/2007/01/page/2/

10.30

I thought this week's discussion about branding was interesting and perplexing all at the same time. When I think about how we all knew the words to some of the commercial jingals, and how I was able to recognize and associate the logos Dr. Elder showed us within a couple seconds of seeing it, I think these branding designs are genius. On the other hand, I feel kind of like a sheep in the crowd. The more we learn in this class, the more I am amazed at the way different campaigns target different audiences, and realize that I too am targeted in a specific population. When I wanted to be a doctor I used to think "if I know it and study it, it won't happen to me," and I somewhat feel that way now like "if I know what to recognize and how it works, I won't be as affected by the message." Yet every time I see the golden arches, I think about the steaming, golden, delicous chicken McNuggets in the TV commercials and how tasty they are.

I like what Dr. Elder said about keeping it simple, and when I think of the brands and messages that always stick out to me, they are simple but memorable. Our group met today and started designing our campaign products with our messages: "You are what you eat" for the High involvement group, and "Think about it..." for the low involvement group. I think we have some great ideas planned out for the posters we are going to use and I am confident that our message in combination with the pictures we have will show our audiences that healthy and delicious food substitutions are easy and smart.

One last note, I saw the commercial Whitmore's friend was in for Dominos and I think I liked the way Stephanie told it in class better than it was depicted on TV, although it had me thinking about Dominos the next time I saw spinach which made me laugh.

Branding

Have you ever wondered what it was about those two golden arches that made you automatically scream "McDonald's!" as a kid? Or why a simple check mark makes us think "Nike...Just do it!" How did a simple red addition symbol become associated with the American Red Cross? This is the great marketing miracle. Branding and creating a slogan that sticks is the goal of successful marketing firms. This is also what we are doing in health communication. Earlier today I was thinking about ways to effectively create a brand and slogan that would help our group come up with an effective health marketing campaign focused on increasing healthy eating habits and utilizing healthy substitutions. Dr. Elder gave really great advice. Simplicity is key. Something short and sweet that gets the point across. But who knew simplicity could be such a creatively complex process? How does one encompass such a big message without creating tunnel vision, or creating unnecessary restrictions to the message?

When we discussed the importance of simplicity I also thought it was, in some ways, contradictory to what we learn in this program. We are taught there are multiple levels that can affect a person's behavior. It's not just intrapersonal and interpersonal, its their environment and the policy and an effective intervention targets all these levels. Then how can we promote this, but then say that we should keep it extremely simple and not do too much at once. How does one balance this concept of working on multiple levels and multiple factors but create a brand or media campaign that is nothing more than basic? I guess that is the balancing act that an experienced health communicator can do efficiently. Let's see how we do...*fingers crossed*

Branding

I thought Manpreet's presentation today in class about the "VERB" campaign was pretty interesting. I had never heard about this campaign before (I guess not having cable TV may be one reason why). But I was really surprised to watch the video about the VERB yellow balls and the mission to promote physical activity among children. I was intrigued by how they came up with the idea of distributing balls to kids to encourage them to play outdoors, then log-on to the website to blog about their experience (at least those who have Internet access) and lastly pass the ball onto another friend via mail or in person. To me it seemed like a pretty novel even though only about 20% of kids passed the ball on. However, Dr. Elder brought up some good points about the branding of this campaign. I agree that the decision to use the word "VERB" as the brand/slogan didn't seem like an ideal choice to me to use in targeting children. Most adults don't even know the definition of the word and I highly doubt that kids know what it means. But on the other hand, I can understand the rationale for wanting to use a word that signifies action. Maybe selecting a word that children use to describe physical activity would have been a better approach in addition to using a symbol or logo that is easily identifiable.

I'm excited about working on our group messages. Hopefully we can incorporate our group name of "delish&nutrish" into the creative designs that we've brainstormed.

Reflection for 10/24

While I was not in class this week, I was at home deeply in thought about fear messages. Looking over the slides and the readings for this week, I was reminded about some discussions I have had with brother about quitting smoking. I often invoke the fact and fear arguments with him in trying to get him to quit smoking, and have failed pretty regularly. Now my brother would be considered low motivation to quit smoking and so I would normally think that a fear message would be on target for getting him motivated. However, as it turns out, money was the only thing that got him to quit. He figured out that if he stopped buying cigarettes, he would save so much more money each month that he could actually afford the things he likes on the weekends like golfing. I bring up this story because it reminds me that fear messages while affective with some groups, are equally as ineffective with other groups. Liz brought up an important point about how fear messages have often been good at stopping negative behaviors, but this experience with my brother, and the lecture slides mentioning that “too much fear = not effective” makes me think about our current project.

If our goal is to increase a positive behavior (selecting healthier options), we will simultaneously have to encourage decreasing a negative behavior (eating fat, crappy food). Therefore, I think I have just long-windedly expressed that fear messages will not be the way to go for our target audience, I think. I feel like if we move from the weight gain approach as Stephanie mentioned (ie you don’t want to gain the freshman 15), we are going to have a difficult time; Weight is something that can happen over such a period of time that people don’t notice it’s happening until those jeans they brought to college no longer fit. I think that this weight gain will not only be something that is “too much fear” for some but just plain out of sight for others. I think if we use the freshman 15 approach we are going to have to use that with the group that already has some involvement/ motivation as it is likely they are already thinking about this when they make their healthier food substitutions.

I like the idea of a humor or even slice-of-life approach, especially with our target audience. However we are going to have to be very thoughtful as to how we frame this message to our audience in order to be most effective.

Framing Messages

The article by Tversky & Kahneman (1981) was so confusing! As I was reading it, I just kept thinking about the TV show called "Numb3rs" because there was so much math concepts and terminology involved their explanations. Luckily, the Rothman (1999) article was much easier to follow and understand.

I agree with Janice that for our group's nutritional message, gain-framed may best. Focusing on the benefits of a healthy diet (i.e. increasing fruits and veggies) and how they can prevent the negative health consequences will be key. Hmm... what could our selling point be? Avoiding the freshman 15?

In class as we were discussing the use of humor in health messages, I had a really hard time trying to recall a particular ad that used that approach. But then I remembered a video clip we watched in class a couple of weeks ago. It was the one about the kid throwing a tantrum in the grocery store. The first time I watched it I never predicted it would be about a commercial about condoms. But at the end of the clip, I chuckled and laughed at the surprise ending. I'm sure not everyone was amused by the ad but I thought it was a good example of how humor can be incorporated into a message, even it it's only for a few seconds.

Janice's Reflection #7

Children are our future! One day when we're old and gray, today's youth with be the ones taking care of us old folks. I love kids! I don't have my own yet, but already dream about one day having my own. So, for the mean time, I borrow my little cousins, nieces and nephews and grandchildren and allow them to teach me everyday life lessons. They are little sponges that absorb everything... which is why we must always watch what we're saying when we're around them. Children, in general, are the reason why I decided to take upon grad school. I am so passionate about protecting our youth's health and educating our public with skill sets they can use to prolong our children's lives.

I couldn't help but share the following Youtube link that used child actors to promote health and of course advertise the health insurance company:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wowJsEM7Blk

The funniest, yet most important point that is made on the video is at the very end when the African American boy states "we're doing business here." That phrase means many things to me, but mainly that we can't take our health for granted.

This week's readings touched on gain vs. loss framed messages. Depending on your target audience and target behavior change, deciding which of the two types is critical in allowing people to have the efficacy to make the proper lifestyle change(s). In our project, I'm currently brainstorming gain-framed messages. Since eating for most people is an enjoyable action to partake on a daily basis, I would like our group to promote the 'gains' of increasing fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, etc. I currently have message ideas in my head, which I hope our focus group will approve.

Fear tactics reflection

This week our readings and class lecture were about the use of fear tactics within health communications.   Personally, this is one of my favorite tools to use to elicit behavior change.  For me, fear is an effective motivator to either engage or terminate a behavior.  The video that Brian showed during his presentation was actually the reason why I stopped texting while driving.  There is a lot of literature and studies that state that fear tactics are not effective in increasing positive behavior.  To me, it seems like the only real way to convince people to stop negative health behaviors.  The concepts Brian discussed in his presentation also correlate with the fact that people are motivated by fear and by addressing it we as public health specialists can use it to our advantage.

Another construct identified this week was humor in marketing strategies and if it might be applicable to health promotion communication.  Be a jester myself, I think that humor is a great way to catch attention.  Looking back on social marketing in the 40s and 50s, they would never have been caught dead using humor in their ads for fear of possibly insulting someone.  Depending on your audience i think both fear and humor can be used effectively to influence behavior change

Framing a Message

Framing a message in a way that is simple, easy to understand, and focused on impacting your target audience in however you may want seems like a no-brainer. But the truth of the matter is, different people are affected by different messages depending on how they are relayed. Our target population for the nutrition campaign is college students. As a group we need to focus on what is important to college age students with low and high involvement in their nutrition beliefs and behaviors. Since undergrad was not a long long time ago I try to think on what types of ads affect me most when it comes to my nutrition and health and why they affect me the way they do.


Kaiser Permanente's Thrive Campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tNlSKfLO2o

This campaign is short and sweet. "THRIVE" because that is what people want to do. Don't just live, but thrive! Live well. And this commercial is simple, not much is said, but it motivates me to go out and be active.

With fear tactics...I was suprised to hear there was only a slight impact. I feel that if it scares me I tend to remember it. Red Aspalt made me weary of bad drivers and bad driving...this is your brain on drugs promoted my feelings about anti-substance abuse messages and behaviors. But my question is, is this because my involvement is already high? Does it only have little effects for those with low involvement? If you think about it, it would makes sense. I am already against certain behaviors and ads that emphasize why it should be scary should only enforce my pre-existing ideas. But it doesn't seem like the article Brian discussed in class looked at this factor. I think this would be an interesting aspect to look into because it can really impact the way one reacts to a health message.

We also talked about how ineffective humor seems to be. I feel that makes sense. If you think about funny commercials, can you recall who's advertisement it was? What was being advertised? If you remember, was it because you it was the first time you heard of the product? If you are anything like me...probably not. Everyone remember's the Budweiser frog commercial but it's probably because Budweiser is already a well known product, and the advertisement is used more for product placement and a reminder of yes we're still around. But it doesn't seem like new products start with humor as a their main form of advertisements.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a group of super heroes, all of whom wanted to change the world. In a span of a few weeks, this large cohort divided into 3 divisions and decided to tackle different issues plaguing their world. Well, something like that. The truth is, this week our class was taught how powerful storytelling can be. It can transform someone's detailed, boring, tedious, data-driven (albeit super important and informative) presentation into the most exciting thing since Glee! (maybe...) The point is, I think the video that we watched in class this week was eye opening. As a graduate student, I have had many years of sitting in lecture halls and seminars being bored out of my mind (not in this program...obviously this was undergrad :P). You would think as someone on the other side of the podium, I could come up with the idea of storytelling on my own. But I suppose it's something we are never really taught. The truth is, in research, presentations are short and to the point, and you need data to back up any claims to fame you make. The concept of starting with something tangible, that everyone can relate is so simple, but so easily taken for granted. This is a great idea, and I hope to perfect the art of storytelling throughout my career. I espeically would like to work directly with communities, and this is definitely an approach I feel I should familiarize myself with.

I personally really appreciated watching that video/lecture last week. Hopefully I will put it into practice sooner rather than later, as I try to find the story behind all the data I encounter in the world of research so that I may remember the method behind the maddness of what we do...and that is to impact real people with real problems and concerns.

Post for 10.17

This week definitely had a focus on presentations for me. I thought the video we watched was great because I feel like storytelling is something I am always engaged in when I watch other's presentations, but it was nice to have that validation of it being a great presentation skill. In regards to our class presentations it was nice to see how everyone else was interpreting their information and also how they arranged it into one cohesive presentation; as our group went first I was able to reflect on ways we could have improved our own presentation and I think that will help in the next part of our project.

I also had two work presentations this week which I felt more nervous about. One of them was the first meeting with parents that I was able to facilitate myself and I received great feedback from my work mentor. The other presentation was for my teaching credential class in which I had to show video of myself teaching, which was a very strange experience. I thought this was really helpful though for evaluating how I present not only to students but to other groups as well. I think long term professionally speaking it could be beneficial to record myself practicing presentations before I actually have to give them. I know presentations are something I will have to do in my future career, whether it is informally to students or more formally to PH professionals. I thought this week was a great way to start evaluating presentations skills.

Reflection on Storytelling

I'm really glad that we watched the video clip in class about storytelling. Prior to class, I skimmed through the author's book on bad presentations. The info from the book was helpful but for me the video was more impactful and helped me grasp the author's argument about the power of storytelling. I liked the example the author highlighted in the video involving the wordy, detailed PowerPoint presentation. It's definitely something that I could relate to from having personally designed a few of my own wordy presentations and from viewing others as an audience member. But what I really found helpful was how the author framed presentations around the idea of "storytelling". Everyone has a story. Either you are listening to someone's story, retelling a story, or telling your own story. For instance, in the Native American culture storytelling is part of the traditional knowledge of sharing information orally and passing it on from one generation to another. As the video demonstrated a lot of information can be conveyed from oral communication.

I also liked how the physical activity group applied some of the storytelling tips into their presentation. The cliché that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is so true when composing a PowerPoint slide. I've personally struggled with making short and concise presentations in the past, even recently with my 663 article presentation. I find that I tend to get overwhelmed with trying to convey lots of information to others and unfortunately I rely on slides with a lot of textual informational. But in the future, I hope to try and apply some of the storytelling skills that I learned about from the video.

Janice's Reflection #6

This past week's presentations allowed for good feedback from our professor as well as our fellow classmates. We viewed a short video that offered a helpful tip when giving a presentation. The point of this video was that 'storytelling' makes a presentation. I completely agree. In my professional work, I myself, have given my own personal story about growing up with dental disease during my young childhood years. I work for a children's dental disease prevention program and once I've captured the audience's attention with my personal testimony, they realize that dental disease is real and can happen to anyone if preventive measures aren't used.

Once we receive our classmates' feedback about our presentation, our group will be able to make our project more efficient and effective. We are already learning that project planning is an arduous task. It will be exciting once we start on the finer details of our project.

presentation skills

This week's class was on presentations and presentation skills.  As we know this class is about proper communication and presentation skills.  In class we watched a video given by a professional speech coach.  His presentation skills were amazing.  Learning all the little tid bits that make up a great speech are important.  I used to think that presentation skills were all about the person and that anyone could deliver a great presentation is they were a skilled public speaker.  After 6 weeks of instruction I am learning that I was wrong, and that is a hard thing for me to admit!  I have noticed my fellow classmates grow in their presentation skills just by digesting the information presented in PH 663.  Of course I still think that in the moment when the rush of adrenaline hits you as you are about to "take the stage" will probably wipe all your known skills from your mind...setting yourself up for a good presentation with key constructs will help tremendously.

In our field, giving a comprehensive, information rich yet attention keeping and fun presenting is the holy grail.  In my work with the Health Promotion Department within Student Health Services, I have learned on the fly how to adapt a presentation to the audience intended.  I recently gave a presentation to a sorority on campus about alcohol safety.  Throughout the presentation I tried to tie in the aspect of civil responsibility and love for their fellow sisters.  I hope that they took away the important messages from my presentation.  After seeing the video in class, I can only hope that it helped.

Janice's Reflection # 5

Health literacy is an important topic to review. It doesn't surprise me that those who have the highest medical expenses are those (patients) that have the hardest time understanding their health care provider in terms of medical conditions and prescriptions. Through conversation, I hear about my friends' experiences about doctor's visits and how they always feel rushed. In reality, we seem to wait in the waiting room longer than it takes to be diagnosed with the flu, an ear infection or any other kind of medical ailment. So, patients feel too rushed by their medical provider to ask questions regarding their medical regimen or any other questions they may have to better understand their conditions. I feel that medical providers should practice taking their time so that their patient better understands how to take care of him/herself when they are at home. But, this would mean that medical providers would not be able to see as many patients in a day as they would like.

Word-of-mouth communication is an easy way to advertise a product or service. I, myself, have been asked numerous times by my friends about where good places are to eat (and by good, this includes: taste of food, customer service, and price of the meal). I am always happy to tell them about good experiences I have had certain restaurants. However, there are times when I've had unsatisfactory experiences and I will let my friends know about them. I feel that I'm just 'looking out' for them so that they may spend their money on something more worth while.

Now that our group is getting into the meat and potatoes of our project getting out there doing interviews and surveys, it will be important to keep the two topics above in our minds. Word-of-mouth communication would be especially important if the dining hall begin serving healthier alternatives, students would need to spread the word about this added portion to the menu which would make the on-campus dining hall more appealing to eat at.

10/10 Reflection

I also found this week’s readings interesting and informative. Since I work at a school I sometimes try to think of how what we are reading about and discussing in 663 translates into my classrooms. This week I kept thinking about the material I designed for our health class at the school and whether or not the readability level is appropriate. We learned about the SMOG readability guidelines in 662 last semester but I did not think about the impact of the reading level on the literacy acquisition for my students. I am looking forward to using the website to help restructure the reading level of my health curriculum.

It is interesting too to consider Manpreet’s point about our current medical literature and material reflecting an actual 5^th or 6^th grade reading level. I think about the materials I give out in my health class to my students and I do not really think that reading level is at 5^th or 6^th grade level. I think for the most part those in the health communication field have been moderately successful in designing materials that speak to these literacy levels, however, I definitely feel like there is more work to be done.

10/10/10 Reflection

Last week's readings were interesting and they made me evaluate how information is shared with patients and among patients in the clinic where I work. Last year in 662 I learned about SMOG and how the average adult reading level is around the 6th grade. But I've never actually reviewed the brochures and print materials at my work to analyze the reading level. Now, I'm interested in scoring some of the materials against the SMOG guidelines to find out if the information is appropriate for average reading level or too high. From my experience in the clinic, I have also learned how important word-of-mouth communication can be when assisting patients one-on-one and between patients-to-patients. Sometimes when assisting patients one-on-one, I notice that patients will opt out of taking print materials during their visit (maybe for some of the reasons Manpreet highlighted). Therefore, verbal communication becomes extremely important. Also, many patients that I've met have said that they were referred to the clinic via word-of-mouth from their friends or family who had a positive experience. While on the other hand, if a patient has a negative experience at the clinic their word-of-mouth feedback can influence the potential outcome that another person does not visit the clinic.

Nowadays, word-of-mouth communication can also be shared via technology (email, cell phone, and internet). Among our target population of on-campus undergrad students, we've learned that internet usage (i.e. Facebook) is the most popular form of media. Considering the antecedents and consequences for this type of word-of-mouth approach will be important for our group project.

Effective Health Communication

Have you ever gone to the doctor's office and given some kind of brochure or handout that you didn't quite understand? How about those slips of paper that have prescription info on it? Do you even read them? Most of don't...why? If you ever have (if you haven't you probably should), you will see why you didn't want to read it in the first place. Some prescriptions look like they are going to do more harm than good, and some informational brochures leave you with more questions than answers. Now think about your parents or grandparents. Do they struggle with medical information that they receive?

The reality is most Americans have a average literacy of 5th or 6th grade. Does our medical material reflect this? In most cases it does not. What is a consent form? What does it mean if you are high risk? What is moderate vs. vigorous exercising? These words and phrases are not everyday jargon, and can easily go over one's head. The issue tackled this week in our Health Communication class is to be aware of this concept of the level of health literacy in the populations we deal with. You may think, well duh! But you would quite surprised to find that most health professionals forget to leave their jargon in the break room. This week's big lesson is keep it simple. It sounds simple enough, but can be harder to do if your profession is surrounded with terminology. The key is to remember the show: Are You Smarter Than a 6th Grader? The smarts and experience may be there...but for most of those who watch that show...you have probably learned we definitely need to simply those questions and make them applicable to everyone. The same needs to be done with our health communication messages.

Reflection week 6

Health literacy is one of the biggest barriers to my Health Promotion work.  To me, Healthy literacy is less about what language they speak but how well the audience can absorb the material.  In the readings we did this week, the authors spoke of key concepts when trying to adjust for health literacy (mother tongue, laymen language, and pictures) i think these are the building blocks that make up a good health campaign.   I personally have created campaign material for various events as well as informational handouts.  Coming from an MPH level, trying to dumb down prescription medication interactions or the biology behind BAC is a little difficult.  Also I constantly have to remind myself that these people dont have the background knowledge i have and obviously would not make the same decisions.

Currently I am working with the VIIDAI program to build an intervention focusing on tick eradication and prevention within a small colonia in Baja Mexico.  Health Literacy is probably one of the biggest factors we face down there.  Being able to explain a virus and how to properly destroy a tick and why are complicated.  The basis for our mission relies on effectively communicating information to a large number of people.  Most of the people in this colonia have only finished the 3rd grade and most are indigenous to central mexico and dont speak traditional spanish.  This presents a whole bag of worms on its own.  Using the advice and techniques from the readings should alleviate some stress on how to address these people.

** When working with our nutritional audience i think health literacy will come into play in the form of how we address the students.  Giving them the information and guidance without being overbearing or hard to understand.  Luckily our target audience is pretty much at the higher education level (some ;) ) it should be too hard.  **

The Art of Segmentation

This week, we focused on audience segmentation. It's a really interesting concept to generate data based on geographic location, habits, hobbies. If I'm understanding it correctly, it's kind of similar to how those ads end up on the sides of your screen when you are on facebook. Some mysterious source (I really don't know what it is exactly...) follows what I search on my computer and like magic I get related ads and links on the sides of my screen. For example, if I go on forever21.com one too many times, my side panels become flooded with where I should shop for new clothes and find great deals. I, like Stephanie, had no idea when asked about my zipcode, stores were tracking my behaviors. I agree with Megan. I was sure it was because they wanted to see how many consumers came from certain areas so they can send me "junk" mail.

Buuut...in someways, to me, this concept of clumping audience data can act as a double edged sword. A good way to explain it is thinking about stereotypes. They are usually generated for a reason (not to hate on Asian drivers or Indian engineers), but they aren't always accurate. I think it's important to realize that clumping can be more effective and cost efficient, but what we should remember is not all Asians are crazy drivers, and not all Indians become engineers...some become Doctors. :D okay not all become Doctors either...some go for their MPH like myself. :P

Overall the concept of segmentation is great, if used properly. There are more and less effectives way of segmenting, like our articles says. Sometimes demographics play a vital role in tailoring a message, but sometime the stronger impact is based on beliefs. I guess, the best way to segment, is to look at what's been done and proven effective, and conduct formative research and effectively analyze your own results. Then take both results and combine them to create your own summary of your target audience. Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

Reflection: Week (idk what week it is)

this week we read about audience segmentation and how it is important when implementing and evaluating interventions.  Honestly, when I first started ready the articles all I kept thinking was "Wow this sounds like  they are just homogenizing the target population and tailoring their efforts exactly" almost like a cop-out.  To me it seems extremely difficult to get a completely homogenous audience.  Coming from someone with field experience (MOI) I know that even when you are breaking down a population into smaller more manageable groups, getting a completely similar audience is very difficult.  the amount of time and energy spent on tailoring the needs to the group exactly seems tedious and not worth it.  Looking at it from an evaluation standpoint, being able to target your audience so well and keep the material relevant seems immeasurable.
**
when thinking about how we can incorporate segmentation into our project, there are a lot of ideas that come to mind.  First I think we might be able to address the students based on a stages of change model.  whereas depending on whether or not they even want to eat healthier options vs those who havent thought about it.  maybe targeting men vs women because their eating habits are different.  After I tall with some RAs i feel like I should have a clearer picture as to how we might be able to incorporate segmentation into our program plan.

Janice's Reflection #4

Our team is getting ready to survey our target population. In order to conduct our survey, we are brainstorming questions that can fine-tune our project in a way to segment our audience. We will need to ask creative yet simple questions on a Likert scale survey so we can find out who is dining at the dining halls. Audience segmentation allows us to tailor our health program to the individuals in our target population based on an assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. As we have already witnessed, in a 'private investigation' of our campus dining hall, fresh fruits and vegetables are not as readily available as our team would like. Once our team segments our target population, we will be able to figure out how to implement a behavior change.

In our class discussion, the business marketing tool was quite interesting. I found myself looking up zip codes around San Diego to check out how they described the population. It was entertaining to see where people shopped for clothes, what products they searched for online, and what make and model of car was typical for that area. I found out that where in live (Alpine/Rural suburb of San Diego), sounds like the boondocks where the older folks order from L.L. Bean, watch Antiques Roadshow, ride AARP magazine, drive GMC Yukon Denali's and non-Hispanic White. This was such a crack up since we are one of just a handful of Filipino families in Alpine who definitely don't fit these criteria!

Week 5 Reflection

I also found this weeks discussion on segmentation interesting. I had always thought that marketing companies had used demographic information to target different audiences, but never really thought about how they did this. It is interesting this idea of zip-code segmentation, but also as we discussed in class the segmentation based on lifestyle, behavior, media use and so on. I thought it was really helpful for understanding to review the “Dimensions of Segmentation” slides and the “Segmentation Process” slides again.

For our group project, I think Stephanie is correct in thinking there will not be much segmentation based on geographic distribution as we are only looking at on campus or off campus. I think we are going to need to be more creative in our segmentation efforts for our audience and this is something we definitely need to discuss when we meet as a group on Monday. One idea we could think about depending on what we find with our gatekeeper interviews, is possible segmentation based on audience attitudes or readiness stage.

10/3 reflection

The main idea that I took away from this week's topic of audience segmentation was that one, single social marketing approach does not effectively serve the collective target audience. Basically, in planning a health program it is important to first know what types of segments or subgroups exist with the target population. Audience segmentation is one technique that can be used to identify common characteristics among subgroups in relation to a variety of variables including demographics, behavior, and psychographics. Initially when I first read the articles by Slater and Maibach, I compared segmentation to the idea of analyzing the segments based on the principles of the stages of change model. Yet, an additional layer of segmentation that can be helpful is learning what message and communication channel preferences exist among different subgroups for program planning purposes.

I was surprised to learn how zip code information obtained in retail stores is actually collected and used for the PRIZM market segmentation. I guess I never really thought about why cashiers at certain stores sometimes ask me for my zip code. I just thought it was so they could continue to send me coupons in mail. But now I know they were just trying to analyze my shopping behavior for segmentation purposes!

The target audience for our group project is students living on-campus. Therefore we can anticipate that the only variance in geographic information for this audience will be based on whether or not students live in a dorm room or on-campus apartment. But I think it will be interesting to learn about the different behaviors, attitudes and knowledge among this population of students. In addition it will be important to learn about channel and media preferences for nutrition information and whether or not these are being currently met by campus offices.

9/26: Formative Research

This week we focused on learning about the ways of the world...or maybe just the ways of a small group of people that take up a miniscule part of the globe. Irregardless the task is by no means simple. We are all guilty of the occassional people watching at some point in our lives (myself included), and this week we learned about perfecting this method, and doing so in a way in which every meaningful detail can be noted, pondered, coded, and understood for some greater purpose. (Sounds a bit obsessive, but so is the life of a great researcher). Knowing the thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and vaules of the target population in which you wish to intervene with a program that will prove beneficial (and in turn successful) is essential in behavioral research. It is no simple task to learn all these things about any group in a short amount of time. It truly does take years of practice to perfect this skill.

First a good research goes out and inspects the environment. Here I send a shout out to two of my groupmates, Stephanie and Liz, for going out and doing so. Our group is focusing on promoting healthier food choices in the on campus, dorm-dwelling college population. Stephanie and Liz reported back that they weren't met with the open arms from the cafeteria manager (our first major gatekeeper). "Really? Why not?" I wonder. "Do they have something to hide??? Does the staff know they are serving unhealthy foods to undergraduates?" (Highly doubtful, since college students very well know what is good for them and what is not...at least most of the time.) But I'm sure cafeteria staff don't like us mere MPH students wandering into the cafeteria with our overly do-good, optimistic attitude trying to change the world of college campus dining. Which brings me to my next point (yes it's true, I do have a point). Buy in of key informants and gatekeepers is extremely important in formative research. Yes people want to share their stories, thoughts and opinions. But do they want to share it with just anyone? Or do they ask something in return? What kind of incentives or buy in can a researcher give to gatekeepers for information they feel could be easily criticized? These are the questions that I was met with this week when deciding the best way to approach our nutrition topic with our given population. Hopefully, approaching college students, cafeteria personnell, and possibly our own experience with on campus dining can put the pieces of the puzzle together. Gaining knowledge through various perspectives may help us answer our question: How can we promote healthier food choices in a college population that is surrounded by fast food and/or buffet style eating, and a high affinity for instant gratification?

Week 3 Thoughts

I would also like to start by thanking Stephanie and Liz for going to the cafeteria this week to speak with Gatekeepers. After reviewing my notes from last class again, I feel as though we have a good start at understanding our target population background and attempting to meet with Gatekeepers to gain more insight. I agree with Stephanie that it might better to arrange brief interviews with the other Gatekeepers we had in mind. I also like the idea of actually going to the cafeteria to eat lunch or dinner one day. I think we would benefit greatly from observing students and I think we could more clearly determine other influential ecological factors.

On a side note, I spent some time observing students at my school on Thursday and Friday when I have lunch duty and noticed some interesting things. My school is contracted with an Organics food company so most of the food the kids eat provided by the school is healthy and balanced. I noticed though that with the students that had home-made lunches, there was a mix of healthy and unhealthy components; for example I saw students with sandwiches on whole-wheat bread and then eating sugary fruit snacks and drinking a Monster energy drink or other carbonated beverage. I also noticed that some students did not have lunch that day and did not have money to buy lunch; even more interesting though was that students who were willing to give up some of their food from their lunches were more so willing to give up cut vegetable sticks and packed fruit. While I realize these are high school students, I think there is something to be said about the thought that goes into their food decisions and how that evolves or changes (or doesn't) as these students enter college. I bring this up because I am hypothesizing that for many of the younger college students, the healthier options (as we are focusing on) are going to be a topic of low interest or involvement and we should pay close attention to these trends when we go to the cafeteria, design our campaign materials, and when we do our focus group.

Janice's Reflection #3

First and foremost, I would like to thank Stephanie and Liz for taking time out of their busy schedules and becoming private investigators for our group project. Thanks Ladies!

The first few weeks of this course have proven that proper program planning is essential for a successful program. Even when health program developers are in a time crunch, it is still important to plan a program using focus groups. Being able to communicate with those who are in your program's target population will allow you to be open to new ideas that may have not crossed your mind. In addition, focus groups will let you know what will and will not work in your health campaign. It is crucial to remember that when you're marketing your health campaign, what may have worked for one target population may not work for another. For example, at the beginning of our Delish&Nutrish project, we were going to target 4th and 5th graders at an elementary school. That idea has since changed and we are now going to target undergraduate college students that use our campus' dining halls. The change in our target population changes our ideas for marketing a successful health campaign. It is pertinent that we are up to date with technology as college students are usually at the forefront of the newest innovations. Finding the gatekeepers for our project will be important as well, as these individuals will be able to work with us in providing healthier food options at the dining halls.

It will be helpful for our group to find out what existing educational materials are already being used, as this will save time in our planning process. I feel that the marketing portion of our campaign will be fun as these messages will hopefully assist someone in making their behavior change.

Formative Research

This past Thursday morning, Liz and I set out to begin formative research for our group project. We visited one of the on-campus student dining halls and were able to directly observe the breakfast food offerings. In the photo, you can see the menu and the selected options that were displayed to students as they entered the cafeteria. As we walked around the cafeteria, I was shocked by the limited availability of fresh fruits in the morning and also by the lack of healthy nutritional messages. We observed one wall that displayed framed pictures of fruits and vegetables, a decoration basket full of plastic fruits, a table tent ad promoting a healthy dinner at the cafeteria as part of a study routine, and one print nutritional handout. Ironically, the nutritional handout was placed next to a flowerpot and could potentially be overlooked by students as they passed by.

Liz introduced herself to the cafeteria manager (a "gatekeeper") and told her about our group project. But the manager stated she was unavailable at that time. The manager suggested that we return to the cafeteria for lunch of dinner sometime for our own experience and to observe students' behaviors. Initially I received this suggestion as a mere brush-off. But it might actually be something for us to consider in order to understand on-campus students behavioral characteristics and psychographics. I think it is also important for us as a group to contact other potential "gatekeepers" (ex. Housing & Dining Services, Residential Life, Student Life, etc.) in advance via email or phone to inform them of our project and interest in setting-up a brief interview. I'm personally interested in finding out how "gatekeepers" feel about sending healthy nutritional messages to students in the cafeteria since so few were found.

Reflection: week 2

This week we discussed how formative research helps drive interventions. an interesting aspect to this not previously considered by moi, is that formative research is theory driven.  There are multiple avenues one can take as well as different kinds of formative research.  The three main types of formative research are focus groups, indepth interviews and surveys.  In public health we use surveys as the most common tool in gathering data before implementing interventions.  In our nutritional group, we need to conduct formative research in order to find out what are the demographics, psychographics and what the primary concerns of the population we mean to target are.  The population in which we have decided to administer a media campaign to are SDSU college students living on campus between the ages of 18-24.  Nutirtion within this group is usually overlooked due to many reasons.  Some reasons why their nutrition may be overlooked does not necessarily have to do with the fact that it is not important but rather that there is an implied assumption that their needs are being met and that the school and dining services are following the national nutritional guidelines.  thinking about that, i can only wonder if the natioanl nutritional guidelines are sufficent for this target population.  Are there differences between grade school nutrtion, high school nutrition and college nutrition?

Stephanie E and I visited the dining hall on campus this morning.  I was appalled at the selection.  The only real options were waffles (made by students themsevles with premixed batter in pre-portioned cups) and an omlete bar.  The fruit offered was canned and the bread was all white or sourdough.  There was only one healthy cereal option and *surprise!* there was no nutritional information available about any of the foods offered.

When organizing our project i think it will be key to use indepth interviews with key informants and gatekeepers to discover what the real issues are.

Janice's Reflection #2

Knowing the involvement (high or low) of our target population is going to be a crucial aspect of our project. It will likely be both (high and low involvement) since it (personal view on health) is dependent on each individual child. The Braverman article in this week's reading was useful in deciphering which message transportation (emotional connection) route should be used. Modes such as audio vs. written and information vs. testimonial will allow us to get the health message(s) through to our group. Since the group of school children we're choosing will be around the ages of 9 & 10, we will have to grasp an understanding of how to incorporate the most useful transportation routes for both low and high involvement to make our project efficient and, most importantly, effective.

It will be a challenge getting these students to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption, a main reason being that they are not the ones purchasing groceries for their household. Also, if they purchase a school lunch, the children are, once again, not in control of what is on the menu. I think it will be important for our group conduct formative research with the parents, 4th and 5th grade teachers, and the school's nutritionist as well. In the end, the adults have a major impact on what foods children are consuming as they are role models in the lives of these children.

Reflection for 9/19

I found this week's readings about marketing and communication to be very interesting. I have always been interested in marketing and communication but had never really though about how marketing specifically applies to health. I enjoyed reading this article mostly for the distinction that was made between how communication and marketing can be used to affect change among people and places. I also think this has made me more aware when I am watching TV, or reading the newspaper and magazines of what is advertizing, communication and or marketing.

As Manpreet pointed out, after reading the Braverman article I was also intruiged to find that for people with low invovlment testimonials and audio were the most effective means of information transmission. However, when I think about the student population for our specific project I am interested to see how we can take this information and prepare meaningful, and age appropriate communication materials. I like Manpreet's idea to create different messages for different levels of student invovlment and think this is something we should definitely do. One thing I have been thinking about in terms of our target audience and how we are going to transmit this information is if the best way (and most feasible way) would be to do it in print? This is something I will continue to think about until our group meets again and we discuss the aspects of our project more specifically.

9/19 Reflection

The Braverman article about testimonial vs. informational messages led me to reflect on my work environment at Planned Parenthood. In the clinic waiting room, testimonial messages are presented via the television while printed pamphlets and posters offer lots of factual information. The TV programming is developed by the agency and seeks to provide both factual and testimonial audio/visual information to people who are seated in the waiting room. Some of the TV testimonials, like one segment that highlights a young person talking about their experience of STI testing, are framed in such a way to appeal to the emotional investment or "transportation" of the viewers. After reading the article, I learned how different types of messages in the waiting room could potentially be absorbed by people based on their level of involvement and interest. The discussion from the three different studies in the article helped me to understand why some people who visit the waiting room may or may not be interested in reading a pamphlet and/or listening to the TV programming.

In previous courses, I had heard about the theory of Diffusion of Innovation but never really understood how it was applied. Therefore, I thought the discussion in class about the process of adopting an innovation and the different segments of people who are involved (trendsetters, early majority, laggards, etc.) was quite interesting. The visual representation helped me better grasp the idea behind the theory.

I'm excited to explore different types of messages and channels with 4th and 5th grade students for our group project. The some of PSAs that we viewed in class were pretty creative and varied in approach. Maybe as a group we could brainstorm some PSA ideas to increase fruit and veggie consumption among our target population?

Reflection for 9/15/10

This week's article Braverman (2008) was very useful. The idea of transportation, or emotional connection, between a message and the receiver is something I had never really thought about. I mean it would make sense, but it is useful to know that there is an article that has studied and shown a relation between the impact of the message and certain characteristics used. I didn't know audio and testimonials would work best with people with low involvement, and written and informational messages are more useful for those who have high involvement. This article really helps me gain a better understanding of what our group should include/look for in our formative research. For students, we should try to gauge how involved students are in their own health, and how important they feel diet is to their health. Maybe it would be best to create different messages stating the same concept for both high and low involvement students to ensure a greater impact on our population. It also made me more aware of how messages affect my perceptions and change my opinions. I am more aware of how informational messages do affect me more when they are on topics I am concerned about, and how other topics need to take a different approach.

I also feel the video clips were extremely helpful in providing us with different examples on how to get our points across. I think referring to thetruth.com and the ad council website would be extremely helpful in developing ideas on how to approach our target audience in an affective way and leaving an impact and being memorable, without being over the top. I feel this would be our biggest challenge, but if done properly, a big accomplishment.

Reflection: Week 1

Signing up for a class about communication, I thought I already knew everything there was to know.  However, after the first two class meetings I am surprised at how much I have to learn.  After reading the extremely dense and frankly tedious article by Scholten, I was a little discouraged.  Upon completion of Lyn's presentation I actually seemed even more confused, but I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  The distinctive theories behind Health Promotion Comm are necessary to achieve total success and must be utilized properly.  I hope to learn more about the different routes and absorption methods.  The most interesting tidbit I picked up this week was about back-door routes.  Whereas a message is being delivered in such a manner that the target has no idea they were just given a health promotion message.  I like this concept for working with young adults I think it will be more successful than the traditional scare tactics and fact-spitting.
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During the 'Code Your Own Communication' assignment I was surprised but not shocked by the number of negative health messages Las Vegas bombards you with.  From free alcohol, open smoking casinos and hotel rooms, to prostitutes to your door in "20 mins or less" (or so says their t-shirts) the messages and prompts for unhealthy living are everywhere.  Being in that environment for 4 days, I myself fell victim to many advertisements and gimmicks geared at the casinos making money.  Discouraging as it may be, I know that there is a way to reach the people in a matter that will captivate, entertain and engage them so that unpopular health related messages can be administered "painlessly" to put it one way.
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Regarding the group topic, I am excited to work on a nutrition campaign.  Previously within the health promotion department I have stuck to my previous interests of sexual health and substance abuse.  During this semester I hope to expand my repertoire and bring a fresh and new attitude to nutrition campaigns.  Hopefully this class will give me the experience and practice i need to develop a successful healthy eating program to use on my resume to exemplify my skills.

First Impressions

Within the first two weeks of this course, I already feel my awareness of the messages around me heighten, especially after the Code Your Own Communication assignment. I found this assignment very useful and eye opening. It forced me to pay closer attention to the different messages I face in my daily life, and really analyze what they are trying to tell me. I never realized how few messages I actually devote my full attention to. I also was surprised in seeing how the health messages on television focus on prescription medications and dieting. Another aspect that really surprised me was I couldn’t believe how few advertisements and health messages were focused on prevention, which was a little disheartening (but also quite motivating at the same time) as a health promotion student. We discussed in class how lots of media messages have no organization or method behind their design, and I agree that using theory as a backbone to our campaigns will prove a key component in their success. I’m eager to start our nutrition campaign, which I hope will not fall through the cracks, but rather leave a lasting impression on those who get a chance to view it.