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6. The Public Health Perspective for Communicating Environmental Issues
Pages 105-124

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From page 105...
... This discussion, however, will be not limited to the family planning literature because our purpose is to provide a broad view from the public health perspective. The chapter consists of five sections: behavior change theory, mass media campaigns, attitudes and attitude change, interpersonal communication networks, and the importance of evaluation research in behavior change promotion.
From page 106...
... Of these, diffusion of innovations theory is probably the most commonly used theory in the health promotion and communication arena. Diffusion of Innovations Diffusion of innovations theory describes how new ideas, opinions, attitudes, and behaviors spread throughout a community (Katz et al., 1963; Rogers, 1995; Ryan and Gross, 1943; Valente, 1993, 1995; Valente and Rogers, 1995~.
From page 107...
... Community: Neighboorhoods, associations Mass Media: TV, radio, and print Policy: Local and global levels Multipronged: Address supply and demand for healthrelated behavior Can be tailored Are direct and immediate Some attempt to use "brief interventions" Working in bounded, closed communities More control over the intervention and setting Generally most effective Empowering and sensitive to community dynamics Reach many people Can change societal/normative perceptions Can change some people's behavior Can target few people Small changes can have big effects Highly visible Addresses both motivations and barriers of change Effectiveness dependent on similarity/empathy between patient and provider Effectiveness depends on organizational factors Variability among organizations of the same type Take a long time to forge collaboration and work with groups Hard to scale up and replicate Usually do not change a large percentage Dependent on quality Specific to the situation Somewhat unpredictable Replication would be uncertain Can be expensive Hard to coordinate diverse organizations and activities lain channels over time among the members of a social system" notes Rogers (1995:5~. Diffusion theory has been used to examine the spread of new computer technology, educational curricula, farming practices, family planning methods, medical technology, and many other innovations.
From page 108...
... Research has found that these early adopters often are persuaded more by mass media and other targeted communications that provide information relevant to the behavior. Moreover, these new adopters sometimes are freed from social norms that would otherwise inhibit them from adopting a new behavior.
From page 109...
... 100 90 80 70~ 60.> 5040 ' 30 20 10 f / Or / 1 6 11 16 Ti Ime Knowledge I ~ Attitude ~ Practice FIGURE 6-2 Typical knowledge, attitude, and practice diffusion curves used to predict the rate of diffusion and the average time between knowledge and practice.
From page 110...
... Empirical support for the diffusion theory is spread throughout the behavioral sciences, although the most definitive results came from early studies of farmer adoption of new agricultural practices. It has been used extensively to study the diffusion of contraception and family planning in developing countries and in the United States to study adoption of many different health-related behaviors.
From page 111...
... The use of a combinatory approach is illustrated in one of the most successful health behavior change campaigns incorporating a significant mass media component: the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program (Farquhar et al., 1977~. Inspired by the vision of a cardiologist and a communication scholar, a health communication and education program was developed to reduce individual risk factors associated with heart disease (e.g., smoking, obesity, stress, lack
From page 112...
... Similar results were obtained in an Australian campaign, where annual melanoma detection rates increased significantly, from 130 diagnosed cases before a multimedia campaign to 189 during the campaign (Pehamberger et al., 1993~. Such studies provide evidence for the effectiveness of mass media public education campaigns in increasing melanoma awareness and related solar protection behaviors.
From page 113...
... INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION NETWORKS Although media campaigns are conceptualized as broadcasts to a population of disconnected individuals, the audience is a web of human relations connected to one another in complex and nonrandom ways. Consequently, campaign messages are not received in a vacuum, but rather are filtered through these social networks.
From page 114...
... Social networks consist of the friends, colleagues, and family members in a person's immediate social circle, and are measured by asking respondents to provide the names or initials of their friends or those people with whom they discuss personal matters (Burt, 1980; Marsden, 1990; Valente and Saba, 1998; Valente and Vlahov, 2001~. Respondents then are asked questions about the persons they named: (1)
From page 115...
... Analysis: Determine Impact and outcome Interpretation: Share findings with stakeholders and interpret results Disseminate findings FIGURE 6-3 Health promotion evaluation framework. Source: Valente (2002~.
From page 116...
... Summative research usually consists of population-based surveys designed to quantify overall impact. Rules and procedures for evaluating health promotion interventions are well specified (Ross)
From page 117...
... Second, most designers have unrealistic expectations regarding the effect sizes to be expected from promotional campaigns. Most mass media campaigns realistically can be expected to increase behavior by one to five percentage points over baseline levels.
From page 118...
... In the context of family planning for population control, for example, one might argue that we should
From page 119...
... Interventions can, however, inform publics and seed changes in attitudes that will continue to pay behavior change dividends later. These interventions, if accompanied by evaluation research, will inform policymakers of successful elements and enable continued planning for future efforts at behavior change.
From page 120...
... 1977 Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
From page 121...
... Taylor 1998 Are Mass Mediated Health Campaigns Effective? A Review of the Empirical Evidence.
From page 122...
... Steckler, and K Glanz 1988 An ecological perspective on health promotion programs.
From page 123...
... Proctor 2001 The effectiveness of mediated health communication campaigns: meta-analysis of commencement, prevention, and cessation behavior campaigns. In Meta-Analysis of Media Effects, R
From page 124...
... Merritt 1996 Mass media generated interpersonal communication as sources of information about family planning. Journal of Health Communication 1 :259-273.


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