BACKGROUND England's Time To Change (TTC) social marketing campaign emphasised social contact between people with and without mental health problems to reduce stigma and discrimination. AIMS We aimed to assess the effectiveness of the mass media component and also that of the mass social contact events. METHOD Online interviews were performed before and after each burst of mass media social...

This study evaluated the efficacy of Above the Influence (ATI), a national media-based health persuasion campaign to deter youth drug use. The campaign uses public service anti-drug prevention messages and targets youth between the ages of 14 and 16, a period of heightened susceptibility to peer influences. The evaluation utilized mall intercepts from geographically dispersed regions of the cou...

BACKGROUND It has been argued that the alcohol industry uses corporate social responsibility activities to influence policy and undermine public health, and that every opportunity should be taken to scrutinise such activities. This study analyses a controversial Diageo-funded 'responsible drinking' campaign ("Stop out of Control Drinking", or SOOCD) in Ireland. The study aims to identify how th...

This study describes the development and evaluation of Native Generations, a campaign addressing high rates of infant mortality (IM) among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) in urban areas. Campaign development included reviews of literature and previous campaigns, an advisory council, and focus groups. Campaign messages are strength-based, encouraging AI/AN caregivers to utilize avai...

Norway has one of the most comprehensive infrastructures for tobacco control in the world and has launched several media campaigns recent years. Can yet another anti-smoking campaign, using fear appeal messages, have an immediate impact on smoking behavior, motivation to quit and health beliefs? A sample of smokers (N = 2543) completed a survey before and after a 7-week national media campaign....

Los Angeles County has experienced a rapid increase in early syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) in recent years, with the number of cases rising from 126 in 2000 to 809 in 2005. As part of the public health response to this outbreak, a sustained social marketing campaign was launched in 2002, with the objectives of increasing syphilis testing, knowledge, and awareness among MSM in L...

BACKGROUND A large measles outbreak occurred in Quebec, Canada, in 2011. Although nearly two-thirds of the cases occurred in only two health districts, a mass vaccination campaign targeting all Quebec elementary and high school students without valid two-dose history was undertaken to prevent future outbreaks. We compared rates of non-vaccination and age at first measles vaccine dose among stud...

Research on the efficacy of mediated suicide awareness campaigns is limited. The impacts of a state-wide media campaign on call volumes to a national hotline were analyzed to determine if the advertisements have raised awareness of the hotline. We use a quasi-experimental design to compare call volumes from ZIP codes where and when the campaign is active with those where and when the campaign i...

It is well known that some lifesaving medical interventions remain underused. If such practices were employed whenever they were indicated, many lives could be saved. MetaStar has worked for years with Wisconsin physicians and health care professionals to increase the rates at which some of these interventions are offered. However, making changes 1 person or 1 hospital at a time is slow and fra...

Although microbes directly impact everyone's health, most people have limited knowledge about them. In this article, we describe a museum and media public education campaign aimed at helping diverse audiences better understand emerging knowledge about microbes and infectious disease. Funded primarily by the Science Education Partnership (SEPA) program of the National Institutes of Health, this ...