Examples

Application of Communication Theories


  • Two main areas of research:
    • Studies on the effect of day-to-day interaction with media on health outcomes, e.g. studies on the impact of youth exposure to smoking in movies
    • Studies on the effect of planned use of media to achieve health outcomes, usually in the context of media campaign interventions
      • Media studies theories are useful in formative analysis and strategy development stages as well as evaluating outcomes

"Truth" Campaign

  • "Truth," sponsored by the American Legacy Foundation, is lauded as an effective planned media strategy.
  • "Truth" uses a counter-marketing (or counter-advertising) to alert youth to deceptive and aggressive tobacco industry marketing practices.
  • Truth has changed tobacco-related beliefs, attitudes, and smoking prevalence among teens in the early Florida campaign and in a national campaign.
  • Assessments of how "truth" and similar counter-advertising campaigns operate to influence teen cognition and behavior have been conducted.
  • It has been noted that campaign effects were consistent with hypothesis derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and social inoculation effects.
  • Consistent with TRA, higher levels of exposure to the "Truth" campaign were associated with more negative beliefs about tobacco industry practices, negative attitudes towards industry, and lower receptivity to tobacco advertising.
  • Negative industry attitudes were associated with lower likelihood of progression along a continuum of smoking intentions and behavior, as predicted by the social inoculation where media and/or peer influence help youth increase resistance to persuasive communication.
  • Despite extensive campaign reach and impressive campaign success, a knowledge gap exists as a result of the exposure to the Truth Campaign.
    • It has engendered stronger counter-industry beliefs and attitudes among African Americans than other groups, and the direct relationship between industry attitudes and smoking status was stronger among African Americans and Hispanics than Whites.
    • Males exhibit a stronger, direct association between industry attitudes and smoking status compared to females.

News frames of Childhood Nutrition and Obesity in California

  • Frames or angles in which health stories are cast affect the public's exposure to health issues, as they define social problems and attribute responsibility for problems and their solutions.
  • Content analysis of media coverage of childhood nutrition and obesity in major California newspapers between 1998 and 2000 was conducted to assess the public health goal of increasing policy measures and individual behavior change to reduce childhood obesity.
  • Researchers examined whether childhood obesity and nutrition were framed as upstream health problems that require policy solutions or primarily as a problem of individual and family responsibility.
  • They found that childhood obesity was attributed to both individual factors (e.g. too much television time, overeating) and environmental factors (school breakfast programs, prevalent fast food outlets and soda availability).
  • Solutions to childhood obesity in California were almost entirely focused on individual behavior (e.g. asking children and parents to change their eating and exercise abilities).
  • Nearly a third of the articles' proposed solutions included only an "individual responsibility" frame, despite attributing the problem to multiple levels of influence.
  • The researchers published a second article aimed at equipping public health practitioners and advocates with skills to reframe news coverage of public health issues including childhood obesity.
  • The authors pointed to values of social justice and collective responsibility as frames that could expand the discussion of solutions to public health problems.
  • They sought to influence public agenda setting and policy agenda setting.
  • They advocated reframing childhood obesity as a shared responsibility among individuals, government institutions an corporations to galvanize public support for policy-level interventions and to persuade policymakers to pursue upstream solutions.
  • They then suggested three key message components to establish core values that motivate people and institutions to act in support of large-scale change.
  • The questions include:
    • What's wrong?
    • Why does it matter?
    • What should be done?
  • They used these questions to publicize a study which revealed a high percentage of California high schools with branded fast food outlets on campus.
  • Project LEAN (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition) used core messages to call for institutional solutions at both local high school and state government levels.
  • Some Project LEAN core message included:
    • Fast food is widespread on high school campuses (What's wrong?)
    • Fast food on campus contributed to obesity and endangers health of the next generation (why does it matter?)
    • Schools must promote appealing, affordable healthy food options for students and government must provide adequate funds for fast foods service so that local school districts do not have to supplement their budgets with contracts fro n fast food vendors (what should be done?)
  • With the use of focused messages, Project LEAN was able to increase in substantive news articles and opinion pieces in California newspapers that reflected the frame of shared institutional responsibility for addressing the problem of youth obesity.
  • To influence news frames used for public health problems, and change the nature of the routine exposure people and policymakers have to health information, three lessons are offered to public health educators:
    • Understand and be able to articulate the core beliefs and values motivating the desired change
    • Articulate the components of message so they integrate those values with a concise description of the problem and corresponding, immediate solutions
    • Develop media skills to deliver the message and compete effectively with adversaries, including the ability to make the (broad) landscape, or context, of the problem and solution visible to reporters.