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This is the course blog for PH 663 -- the theory-based, practical, action-packed Health Communication course for ace Health Promotion students in the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University.
Week 1: Course intro & overview
-Health Communications
-Types of Communication
-Functions of Communication
Week 2: Labor Day-No Class
Week 3: How Theory Shapes Health Campaigns
-SMCRD
-Them/Us
-Who says/hears what
-Hierarchy of effects
-2 Paths
-"house"
Week 4: Formative Research Overview, Presentation Skills
-"Wrong reason" Health Promotion
-Uses & gratification
-Effects model
-Selectivity
-Formative research
-Active listening
-Focus groups
-Presenation skills
-Body language
Week 5: Understanding & Segmenting Your Audiences I
-Benefits and features
-Segmentation principles
-Types of Segmentation (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, Behavioral)
Week 6: Understanding & Segmenting Your Audiences II
-VALS segmentation
-PRIZM geographic
-Forward segmentation
-Backward segmentation
-Inductive
Week 7: Health Literacy
-Health literacy
-Functional literacy
-Levels of literacy (and %s)
-"Showing" vs. "telling"
-Plain language
-SMOG/FOG
Week 8: Message Strategies
-Benefits
-Barriers
-Model
-Types of messages (fear, testimonial, slice of life)
-Risk communication
-Gains vs. losses
-Reference points/anchors
Week 10: Advertising, Public Relations & Media Advocacy
Week 11: Web 2.0, Games, & Interactive Technology
-"media hound"
-Reporters NOT your friends
-Manipulation and ethics
-Find your voice
-Positioning
-"Top of mind"
-Web 2.0 (10 principles)
Week 13: Popular Culture and Entertainment
-Communication contract (presuasion/entertainment)
-Agenda setting
-Entertainment-Education Continuum
Week 14: Mini-Project 2 Presentations
LESSONS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR FINAL PROJECT
- The project should be a reflection of the objectives
- Remember that methods and strategies are distinct concepts
- It's ok to modify objectives and strategies... justify the change!
- Great job not reading from the slides!!!
21 comments:
I'll start off this comment by saying GREAT JOB on the projects, everyone. It's cool to see everyone interacting in the community with varied health topics.
Now on to message strategies...As I look back on all the health campaigns that have stuck with me over the years, it seems that the ones that I remember are the ones that used fear, comedy, testimonials...or some combination, thereof.
What does this tell me? Well, it's personal proof that these tactics really work..at least for people like me:)
Now, applying it to the Shakti Rising project...at first look, I don't see how comedy or fear tactics will work for our message. (Good thing I have a lot of smart group members to help me think outside the box!) I do think that testimonials will be a very powerful way of getting our message across. It worked for me. All I had to do was sit down and talk to some women in the organization and hear how it changed their lives, in order to believe in the organization myself.
But of course, this message isn't about ME. It's about THEM. So I guess we have a lot more work to do to figure out what THEY want and need to hear.
Today class was again interesting, the groups did an excellent job on our first Mini-project. Hooray for everyone! Again, I learned a lot in class today. The lecture on “framing our message” with our target audience in the center of our health campaign universe. We learned different ways to shape our message, from using every day relatable situations (slice of life), to using fear, humor, and testimonial from people. So what did I learn about myself? What kind of health campaigns/messages do I listen to? I think we’ve talked about “personal relevance” in class a few weeks ago and I think for me and the way my brain process information, l listen more to people who have been through the struggle. Someone who is promoting colorectal cancer screening should have gone through the procedure. I can relate more to someone who does testimonials since it seems to be more believable…from struggling and surviving breast cancer to suffering from a chronic disease like diabetes. I also tend to pay more attention to health messages that “tug” at the heartstring and realistic compare to my own experiences. There is a great website and videos on my blog from the CDC about testimonials of celebrities encouraging people to get their colorectal cancer screening done. I can relate to it since all of the spokesperson has had the screening done. The recommendation is 50 years of age, but it is a successful campaign, at least on me, since I keep thinking as I was watching the video that if they can do it I can too! Not that I need it, not yet anyway….I have a few years to go!
We also talked about “reference” point. What are we comparing these messages to? It was an interesting exercise that Dr. Engelberg did in class about the price of the calculator ($20) and the computer ($2,000). Most of us will care about a $10 savings on a $20 calculator, but not on a $2,000 computer! $10 dollars is $10 dollars…does it really matter that the computer is $2,000? Apparently it does, it’s the way of thinking that we are paying $2,000 anyway so what’s $10 more! Believe me; I am guilty of that way of thinking! So much to think about when creating a health campaign, I’m hoping that I can take away some basic principles we’ve learned in class and apply it when I come back to my real world! Have a great week everyone!
Yes Great job to the presenters in class, Its always interesting to see the progress others in the class are making. So for message framing, this concept is useful in health messages and also in everyday communication. Clearly I am going to frame a conversation to a five year old differently than I would to a co-worker.. The audience considerations change for different groups we are trying to reach. This is true in trying to change health behavior, but also true in just day to day conversation. I liked the mad libs exercise (brings back memories!! For message approaches, I think they all have an appropriate time and place. Personally slice of life, testimonials, and humor are my top chioces. I think fear approaches can stimulate action, but dont have much success in longevity of behavior change. Gains and Losses: I like the example of turing a gain into a loss. This was shown by offering 100 bonus points (score!!!), then 500 points is offered, and all of a sudden those 100 points turn into didly squat... interesting.. WEll thats all for now
Josie
I thought everyone did a great job in class too. But I wish we had a little more support from some of our "mentors" for the Climate Change group.
As for framing our messages, I love the idea of humor, but I noticed in the reading that humor can become stale is used to often and also people my remember the humor and not the message. I know what we are aiming to do, but the next matter is actually doing it.
I enjoyed the exercise we did in class with the same message framed differently, I do remember it from the reading but it was nice to put it to work. I like this class for the amount of hands-on work we do, I wish all of my classes incorportated a hands-on approach. I really feel like I may take something from this class into life...anyone else agree?
I echo the Kudos!! The projects look great. The exercise on message framing, with the quiz on killing 400 or saving 200, was a great way to put message framing in perspective. It is interesting to see how manipulation and word choice can play such a defining role in a campaign. The most successful health communicators are ones who can always turn losses into gains when presenting evaluation. Its a great skill to ensure constant funding :)
Amanda's comment abut using testimonials (vs fear, humor...) for their project at Shakti got me thinking. Shakti's prgoram is all about relationships and a sense of community, so testimonials is a natural fit. It seems like just as we match the message to the audience, we also might benefit from matching the tone of our messages to the spirit of our topic. For example, fear might be a good choice if the target audience is already a little afraid of the topic - dying of cancer, terrorism, etc.
And great job, BTW, to all who presented!!!
It was great seeing how all the groups in are progressing with their projects. It will be really interesting to see how all the groups come together with their tasks and I look forward to hearing about the final projects.
So when I think of health campaigns, the ones that really stick out in terms of using message strategies are the commercials that are either really funny or really controversial. I think it works in terms of getting your attention but for how long is the real question in regards to you remembering what the message was all about. Normally if I see a commercial that makes me feel some kind of emotion other than being bored and wanting to switch the channel, I'll actually mention it to a friend during a conversation. Maybe it was really funny and I wanted to share it so they can also take note of it when it is being aired or advertised. That proves to me that message strategies do work, we, the public, just don't realize it because it's a bit like subcontious thinking. I don't normally think of media/message strategies in that way, so to see how it's applied is quite interesting. I'm not sure I'm even making any sense. I finished my 4th out of 5 midterms this week and my brain has turned into je-l-l-o. So to sum this up, incorporating message strategies into our Mass Vac Clinic project will be a challenge, but I think if we rely on sending a powerful message about protecting our families against the flu, it can hopefully encourage East County residents to get their flu shots at the clinic.
At the risk of sounding redundant... great job on the presentations everyone! I liked that all the presentations seemed very conversational. There's a lot that all of us need to do, but I for one feel better that the groups seem to be on a similar level. Plus, we still have time. It seems like all of us are working towards a goal outside of a specific grade in a class. For me, my reaction alternates between relief and feeling burdened!
Speaking of grades- Most of us were pretty silent about the midterm. How did all of you do? Or do we want to forget and never speak of it again?
I thought the exercise we did in class with Program A 200 people will be saved vs. 400 will die was interesting and really goes to show that depending how we word our message, depends how people react. I learned that we are more willing to take a chance if there is a chance that the outcome will be the absolute best it can be (everyone will be saved). With Laura’s example I like “you have a chance” rather than “might”. It doesn’t seem as positive.
I also liked what Laura said about how we talk to people or how Dr.’s convey messages. I think that is really important because as we all know, people can interpret the same thing very differently. I think we have to be careful of what we are really trying to say and if our audience will see it in the same way.
I don't really have much to say this week for some reason, but I'll give it a shot...
Great job to all of the groups, as everyone else has already said! I enjoyed hearing about the other projects and all of their nuances. Can't wait to see the final products! Hopefully we will be able to gather more info. this weekend for the Walking School Bus target audience. Funny how they say they want our help, but they are really not making a big effort to let us in to be able to figure out how to help. Hmmm.... We want to walk the walk, not just talk the talk!
The exercise on making the decision about saving people or allowing them to die was definitely an example of how semantics can change people's perceptions of and decisions about issues. While our examples in class are health-related, many other realms could easily be used to generate examples. For instance, the odds of winning the lottery are slim at best, but they can be phrased in such a way as to give thousands of people enough hope to spend their money on a ticket. My personal example is of my obsession with The Price is Right (during the Bob Barker era - Drew Carey is not cutting it). Although the chance of winning big - or even being selected to "Come on Down" - is tiny, I still had enough hope to wait in line overnight multiple times in attempt to capitalize on that chance. Somehow the message was framed in my mind that I would be the one to make it to the showcase showdown to spin the big wheel - how exciting! Another real world example is politics in general; the way messages are framed definitely influences the way people perceive politicians, policies, laws, etc.
Happy Friday morning! Congrats to those who survived midterms and good luck to those who still have a few to go!
It feels good to have the first mini-project done--although we still need to nail down our segments. We have a function this weekend and hopefully we will have access to our target audience folks.
It was interesting to hear about everyone else's projects. I am still thinking about the immunization group and wondering what is "right"....filling a quota for a mass vaccination drill or ensuring that people are vaccinated against the flu. I realize the point of their campaign is not to advertise for Student Health Services, but to me it seems a bit off to tell students (who are already on campus) that they should go somewhere else to get the flu shot. I recognize the importance of the goal of the mass vaccination trial, but still, I am furrowing my brow at the cognitive dissonance created with in me because I am a huge proponent of SHS.
Anyway, thinking of fear and funny....I don't know about you guys...but I can start a giggle session just thinking about the Aflac commercials with the duck! I don't need insurance, but out of all the companies out there, Aflac is on the forefront of my mind simply because of a funny duck (and that goat!) I must have seen the ads about 17 times during an NFL Sunday night game.
Another campaign that has stuck with me is the childhood obesity one where the kids are asking for "more diabetes, please" and "a shorter life" etc. It's humorous and sickening at the same time. I wonder what Americans outside of the realm of Public Health think about that campaign....
Reference point---I know it's our job to motivate behavior change, but it seems a bit sneaky to think of ways to frame things in order to achieve our communication goal. I know, I know, I know...this is the entire point of this class--to put them in the middle, wrong reason. etc, but it kind of got to me when we were talking about "saving 200" versus "killing 400." Maybe it's the fact that I felt stupid when Dr. E came up with the "save $10" example--that is exactly how I think. Or maybe it's the fact that Nebraska lost at home to Oklahoma State last week or that it has already snowed in Salt Lake City and I'm stuck in Pleasantville...Who knows...just glad it's Friday!
It was nice to know wew weren't the only group that was having difficulties getting in touch with our target audience, but things ar now looking up. Great job to everyone though!
The activity used for message framing was great! It really puts things into perpective and makes you think about how to word your messages.
Not much else to say here. Have a good weekend all.
After seeing the "teasers" for the projects I am really excited to see the end result for all the groups. I like that we have the mini projects to help us get started and also so you can see where all the other groups are and what they are doing. I know all of the projects are going to turn out great and be really interesting!
This week's topic in class was message strategies. We talked about ways to frame the message and different ways to get your message across like using humor or fear. Personally I think that fear is a pretty effective way to get people to pay attnetion to the message. It relates to "wrong reason" health promotion in that people will sometimes change a behavior in order to avoid a negative effect. Fear may even be pretty effective for our project. If people believe that climate change is an issue they may be "scared" into changing small things around them to impact the threat to our world. It is such a chellenge to get people to pay attention to your message out of the thousands they are bombarded with everyday so it is important to be a little creative!
I'm not sure if anyone has said this yet, but Great Job on your presentations!...hehehe...my group, the food stamp group, had difficulty getting interviews, so we'll be doing our presentation this Monday.
The first thing I would like to comment on was the "quiz" that we took in class. I forgot which version I had, but I ended up choosing the one we were "supposed" to pick bc I saw it as less complicated. I didn't necessarily look at the tone of the message. Now, what was interesting was that I got to see this in practice this week. You see, Iris (also in the class) and I just started a new endeavor, we speak to women within specific populations about the importance of breast and cervical cancer screening. We just started, so we were practicing in front of our supervisor with a set of powerpoints already being used. there is one statistic in the slide that says something to this effect: more than 11,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year and more than 3,600 will die. Iris, being the smart chica that she is, decided to interpret this slide differently and it went a little something like this: More than 11,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, but more than 66% will survive because of early cervical screening and treatment. Of course we can go on to break down the language (like we did with the SMOG/FOG tool) but the point here is the tone of the message changed to something of hope. (BTW, Dr. E, although the organization that puts on these presentations is doing a great job, I think the program could benefit from a communication campaign developed by a wonderful group of GSPH students...hmmm...)
Back on subject, I think this lesson is particularly interesting bc I remember learning in Suchi's class last Fall that ppl process messages of fear in 2 day ways. This msg of fear may either inspire someone to take action for whatever reason (i.e. they are competitive and don't want to succumb to the thing in question or as Michelle stated they may already be a little afraid of the it). Or, ppl may take on the fatalistic view and feel hopeless. This is especially true within certain populations. Point being you really need to know your population and know which way of presenting a message is best...
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In response to Laura's comments about how some doctors are insensitive about revealing life changing information to their patients, Grey's Anatomy actually highlighted this. Meredith (now a resident) has some interns, one of which was told by McSteamy to inform this patient that they were dying. The intern clearly had no clue how to do this and Meredith said you want to show compassion but stay distance at the same time bc you may scare them. Long story short, the intern took the advice, was too compassionate and didn't provide enough distance and...it turns out SHE really wasn't dying, it was someone in the next bed/room over...yikes! So, Laura maybe few med students are being taught how to deliver bad information or, maybe they're dispensing the wrong dose of compassion and distance...
Btw, Michelle's baby is too cute!
Hello everyone! Mondays class was fun, I enjoyed being able to hear about everyone's projects and what they have been able to get done thus far. I feel like these projects are also giving us a bit of exposure to areas outside of what we normally seem to talk about in other classes - healthy eating etc. (although learning about those things is obviously extremely important). It was just interesting to me to hear about projects related to domestic abuse, immunizations, etc... public health really encompasses so many things.
My favorite part of class was our group exercise on "framing the message". And I agree with Megan that a lot of what we have been learning can be brought into other aspects of our lives, not just campaign design. I will for sure be thinking of how to "frame" my statistics while writing my thesis!
Is anyone planning to get the "Heuristics and biases in decision making" book? It sounds like it could be fun.... Well, see you all on Moday!
This week was really interesting!
It was great to listen to all the different presentations, and see different styles of presentation. I thought everyone did a really good job of communicating their messages clearly. I was way too quiet up there, and should have prepared something more to say! Work to do for next time...
Taking a look at the CDCynergy tool was great. It looks like a great place for generating ideas from past campaigns, and trying to apply strategies for the future.
Like most of the class, I loved the group presentations! All were very interesting, and I’m looking forward to the final projects. I was also somewhat relieved to find that my group was not the only group having difficulty reaching the target audience. From lecture, I learned the importance of success with smaller groups and of prioritizing the target audience’s wants and needs. The “Logic Model” was a very quick, easy, and helpful way of putting the audience in the center. Lab was also interesting and a great way of presenting how framing a message can manipulate behavior. Overall, I’m really enjoying this class. Have a good weekend everyone!
It was great to listen to the different group presentations. I was happy to know that not only my group, but others are having the same barriers placed against them. DON'T WORRY CLASS....WE WILL GET THROUGH IT!!! On another note, I enjoyed learning about the concepts of anchoring and how prices are framed in our environment. I noticed this the other day when I was out shopping. I noticed that red tags are usually associated with sale items and i'm usually bargin shoppping. When I saw the red tag through the display window, I immediately thought..."this must be on sale!" However, when I went into the store, the item was not on sale. Good marketing strategy for that store! The red tags brought me into their store. I noticed that stores, such as Albertsons use a similar strategy. For instance, when Albertsons advertises grocery times: get 10 items for $10 bucks! People are drawn to the way that the numbers were presented. I've noticed though, that if you don't purchase all 10 items then sometimes you won't get the deal. Bummer for me because I don't need that many items. The presentation of numbers is very important when marketing a product.
I must start with saying that It was really great to see every one do the group presentations. For GSPH course work, it was my first direct partner and community interaction. It was an experience to talk to people in Immunization branch, and convince them that Formative research was important. Not to mention the name, but it was funny when I was asked back “What is Formative Research, I have never heard of this before”. And they were trying to find mistakes in our survey as if it was a measurement tool. But that’s how I guess life is, we were the people with knowledge of science and convinced them that we knew what we were doing, and it shall help us to better tailor the campaign.
It was a good to see the field work that all the groups had done for their topics. Presentations were nice, and I feel, we could have done a little better. Really impressive was the example of the calculator and the lap top. It just made me realize certain things that probably were in my sub conscious. And I totally agree that it’s the percentage of difference that matters, and not the absolute numbers, just like in case of calculator, it would make sense to go to another place for $10, but not for computer. I also tend to base my decisions thinking, how much time I would spend, and the gas, as for me: time and gas are equally important resources which I would weigh against the money that I could potentially save.
It is so true how the tone and design of messages have an impact on us. Fear, comedy, social significance are all potent ways to do that, and there is generally good background research done as to what should work for what type of message. This just keeps me wondering, what we. The Mass Vaccination group should be doing, to get people to the Vaccination clinic.
Comment from Laura S.
October18, 2007 3:47 PM
You know it's been a busy week for me when I am responding about the class so late in the week. I'm the first to get my own blog posted because I do it right after class, but nope... not this time. Damn, oh well.
First off: Good job on your presentations! They were great! I love the Shakira group! heh heh, I know it's Shakti. It's a inside joke with me and Mrs. Miller Markham.
Okay, I must be really abstract because for the experiment of different ways of saying things. I was really thinking about the risks and benefits for choice A and B. I actually had math calculations on the paper, even though the outcome is the same. 100% would guarantee 200 live and 400 dead. But 1/3 chance for everyone to live vs everyone dead. So I had to see the probability of that happening if it were to happen 100 times, then yeah... abstract.
It didn't affect me how it was said, because I think about it intensely. But I can see how it would affect other people. Like for example, "She dumped her boyfriend" <- first thought: Bitch. "She broke up with her boyfriend." <- typical.
It's how we say things that make it sound either good or bad. Like how doctors need to explain to patients or families about the dire consequences of a certain behavior or disease. They could put it in a hopeful light or a way that is just serious. My cousin is a ER doctor and he said that med school does not prepare you to speak to families if a person has departed (died) (<- see another way of saying things). So they really have to be careful with their words. One error, then it would devaste someone.
Also, it would be easy to say something and mean it another way.
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I was reading the reading and saw the needs and wants for communication. This is exactly the same as program planning. I was reading this and looking at 666's stuff and saw so many similarities, except 663 is comm.
Well, I'm going to Mexico tomorrow for VIIDAI. Yay! I am so exhausted preparing for the trip (I'm in charge of the HIV and SPSS training and talent show) but hopefully it'll be worth it.
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