Running Head: Communication Strategy 1
Not bad, Mazalo. Please see my comments in the paper. There are some sections that need a little more thought put into them.
Concordia University Nebraska
Mazalo Looky
Professor Lea Pounds
MPH 588 fall section 1 2013
Who is the target audience, and what are they like?
Primary audience: children 2 to 19:
According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention data, the prevalence of obesity decreased slightly from 15.21% to 14.94% from the year 2003 through 2010. But from the year 2007 to 2008, table showed the increased data on obesity for children age 2 to 19.
Table: Prevalence of obesity among U.S. children and adolescents aged 2-19, for selected years 1963-1965 through 2007-2008
Age (in years)1 / NHANES1963-1965
1966-19702 / NHANES
1971-1974 / NHANES
1976-1980 / NHANES
1988-1994 / NHANES
1999-2000 / NHANES
2001-2002 / NHANES
2003-2004 / NHANES
2005-2006 / NHANES
2007-2008
Total / (3) / 5.0 / 5.5 / 10.0 / 13.9 / 15.4 / 17.1 / 15.5 / 16.9
2-5 / (3) / 5.0 / 5.0 / 7.2 / 10.3 / 10.6 / 13.9 / 11.0 / 10.4
6-11 / 4.2 / 4.0 / 6.5 / 11.3 / 15.1 / 16.3 / 18.8 / 15.1 / 19.6
12-19 / 4.6 / 6.1 / 5.0 / 10.5 / 14.8 / 16.7 / 17.4 / 17.8 / 18.1
(CDC, 2010).
Secondary audience: parents and schools:
Schools and parents will learn how to read food labels, how to count food calories intake, restrict unhealthy beverages and food in children. They also can encourage children toexercise more often because by doing so they will decrease the prevalence of obesity, increase physical activity and improve dietary behaviors related to population burden of obesity and chronic diseases (CDC, 2012).
What action should they take and what are they doing now?
The physical activity and eating behaviors that affect weight are influenced by many sectors of society, including families, community organizations, health care providers, faith-based institutions, businesses, government agencies, the media and schools. We need the whole group to get involved inreversing the epidemic of childhood obesity.
Because promotions of physical activity and healthy eating have long been a fundamental component of the American educational experience, schools are not being asked to assume new responsibilities, but schools can help students adopt and maintain healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. Schools will now follow policies guidelines in promoting physical activities and healthy eating habits. Nowschools will address physical activity and nutrition through a Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) approach. Components of the CSHP approach that can change children behaviors including health education, physical education, health services, nutrition services, counseling, psychological, and social services, healthy school environment, health promotion for staff; and family and community involvement.
Schools can also designate a school health coordinator and maintain an active school health council, assess the school’s health policies and programs and develop a plan for improvement, strengthen the school’s nutrition and physical, implement a high-quality health promotion ,implement a high-quality course of study in health education program for school staff activity policies, implement a high-quality course of study in physical education (emphasizes knowledge and skills for a lifetime of physical activity, meets the needs of all students, keeps students active for most of physical education class time, teaches self-management as well as movement skills; and is an enjoyable experience for students).What specific actions would the audience of 2-19 year old children take?
What barriers stand between the audience and the action?
The children most at risk of being obese are publicly insured, come from low income families, reside in southeastern states, and are Black, Hispanic, or of American Indian descent.
Studies show that there is a relationship between obesity and lack of access to affordable, available nutritious foods. Many vulnerable children live in areas that lack supermarkets, causing families to rely on convenience stores, and fast food restaurants where there is limited choice for fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and other healthy foods. There are also limited parks and recreational areas for exercise, and in areas where there are these facilities, some are not safe for children to play unsupervised.What about barriers for the schools and parents that you identified as an audience?
What is the benefit to the audience of engaging in the action?
According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, physical activity is the most important in reducing and eliminating obesity. Physical activity gives us benefits of being able to control our weight, reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, reduce some cancers, strengthen our bones and muscles, improve our mental health and mood, improve our ability to do daily activities and prevent falls, and increase our chances of living longer (CDC, 2011).
Benefits of healthy eating including healthy smile, fewer wrinkles, flatter belly, less stress, improved mood, fewer craving, increased knowledge, less picky and better employee. Would these benefits be appealing and relevant for 2-19 year old children? What about parents and schools?
What is the support for that benefit, that is, what will make it credible to the audience?
Social influence effects on physical activity. Society can help build strength, flexibility and endurance including aerobic exercise and resistance training. There is a cost while exercising. The cost including fatigue, energy expenditure and time away from other activities. It affects both children and adults. Social influence can often be involved in the decision to exercise, play a sport, or even just to take a brisk walk (Donaldson & Learman, 2011).
Parents need to encourage their children and role model for them. They can walk or ride the bicycle with them. It is important that individuals find physical activities that will make them feel good about themselves even they are tired.
To support the elimination of childhood obesity, the federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to apply nutrition guidelines for food service providers aimed at promoting students health and reducing childhood overweight and create wellness policies designed to improve children’s nutrition education and physical activity (ASTHU,NIHCM, 2007).
In helping reduce childhood obesity, state and Local Officials can create partnerships with community members such as civic leaders and child care providers to make community changes that promote healthy eating and active living. They can make it easier for families with children to buy healthy, affordable foods and beverages in their neighborhood. They can help provide access to safe, free drinking water in places such as community parks, recreation areas, child care centers, and schools and help local schools open up gyms, playgrounds, and sports fields during non-school hours so more children can safely play. They also help child care providers use best practices for improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, and decreasing computer and television time (CDC, 2012).
What are the best openings for reaching the audience, and are the channels available appropriate for conveying the message?
Schools are the best place to reach children and parents to discuss and educate the need to reduce or eliminate childhood obesity. The media (television) has influence on people as well. The local state government foods program also can inform and educated children and parents about their health. Flyers of food choices can be used to educate them. In hospitals, nurses can educate parents by showing them the pictures of obese children and tell them the consequences of not eating healthy or not being physical active. Friends and families who are aware of reducing or eliminating the obesity can also tell them when they meet or call each other.
What image should communications convey?
Parents and schools must supervise children eating habit. Parents can eat at the same time with their children whenever possible. Schools can help in selecting meals. Low calories, low cholesterols foods and beverages with fewer or no calories are good food to take in. Regular physical activity is necessary to eliminate childhood obesity. Children need to consume more fruits and vegetables. So the image you would want to convey is families eating healthy meals together? What image would you want to use with the schools?
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Theory of reasoned action/planned behavior:
Because childhood obesity is a preventable disease I chose theory of reasoned action/planned behavior. For behaviors that are within a person's control, behavioral intentions predict actual behavior. Intentions are determined by two factors including attitude toward the behavior and beliefs regarding others people's support of the behavior.
In fact with the theory of reasoned action, if people evaluated the suggested behavior as positive attitude, and if they think their significant others wanted them to perform the behavior (subjective norm), this results in a higher intention (motivation) and they are more likely to do so. Our class power point from professor Pounds gave us examples:
“If a person believes that exercising 30 minutes 3 times a week will help them lose weight then they will have a positive attitude toward exercise. Subjective norm is determined by whether a person believes that the people whose opinion they value will approve or disapprove of the behavior. If a person believes that important others in their life will approve of them exercising for 30 minutes 3 times a week, they will have a positive subjective norm toward that behavior. They will see the behavior in a positive light and will be more likely to engage in the behavior” (Pounds, 2013).
Expansion on TRA to target situation in which the individual does not have full control over the behavior in question. Behavior control is like the one in self efficacy (Individual’s confidence that he or she can enact change, improves predictive ability of the model.
(Donaldson & Learman, 2011).
The Theory of Planned Behavior adds to the Theory of Reasoned Action by including perceived control. This perceived control includes a person’s perceptions of things that will facilitate their performing the behavior and the barriers that will prevent them from performing the behavior as well as their perceptions about their abilities to control each facilitator or barrier and the impact of each facilitator or barrier. Example: a person’s perceptions about easy access to exercise facilities (facilitator) and lack of time (barrier) will impact his or her perceptions about his or her control over performing the behavior of exercising for 30 minutes 3 times a week(Donaldson & Learman, 2011).
I am using fear appeals
Perceived susceptibility is to perceived personal risk.
Perceived severity:perceived difficulty of living with a disease: help parents to be aware of the seriousness of the obesity by addressing negative health outcome for physical and emotional health and social consequences (Crawford, Howard, Karmali, Pjecha, & Santor, 2013).
Cues to action: are strategies to activate readiness. Events, people or things that motivate people to change their behavior’s: illness of a family member,media reports, mass media campaign, advice for others and health warnings on labels. Prevented treatment: encourage healthy eating at an early stage. It is also important to work with health care professional.Not sure how this relates to using fear appeals.
Perceived benefits: usefulness of preventative treatment to reduce or impact disease. It also decreases their risk of developing diseases and play an important role in promoting secondary preventive behaviors like screening.
Perceive Barriers: problem can be quickly solved; parents are more concern about their children being underweight, the cost of food and lack of time. Safety related to outdoor play traffic, or kidnapping. Poor weather can also be a barrier.Not sure how this relates to using fear appeals.
Self-efficacy: according to Pounds (2013), is the belief that a person can successfully perform the behavior that is needed to achieve a desired outcome. If we believe we can, we are more likely to succeed. So confidence in one’s ability to take action and likelihood of behavior change. Not sure how this relates to using fear appeals.
References:
ASTHO, NIHCM,.(2007). Childhood Obesity: Harnessing the Power of Public and Private Partnerships. Retrieved from
Center for Disease Control and Prevention,.(2012).Overweight and Obesity ,retrieved from
Center for Disease Control and Prevention.(2011) Physical Activity and Health .Retrieved from
Crawford,L., Howard,J,. Karmali, R,. Pjecha, M & Santor, H,..(2013).Childhood Obesity and Possible Policy Interventions .Retrieved from
Donaldson, M., & Learman, K.,(2011).Behavior Modification Strategies for Patient Adherence to Exercise and Wellness. Retrieved from
Resnick, E., & Siegel, M. (2013). Marketing public health: strategies to promote social change. (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA, Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Pounds,.(2013).Models of Health Behavior. Retrieved from
Stewart, D.,(2013)'Honest' Version of Coca Cola's Anti-Obesity Ad Is Actually a Scary Truth Bomb retrieved from
Wechsler, H., McKenna, M.L., Lee, S.M.,& Dietz, W.H. (2004).Childhood Obesity. Retrieved from