The Message Development Tool: A Case for Effective Operationalization of Messaging in Social Marketing Practice

That messages are essential, if not the most critical component of any communicative process, seems like an obvious claim. More so when the communication is about health—one of the most vital and elemental of human experiences (Babrow & Mattson, 2003 Babrow , A. S. , & Mattson , M. ( 2003 ). Theorizing about health communication . In T. L. Thompson , A. M. Dorsey , K. I. Miller & R. Parrot (Eds.), Handbook of health communication (pp. 35 – 62 ). Mahwah , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates . [Google Scholar]). Any communication campaign that aims to change a target audience\u27s health behaviors needs to centralize messages. Even though messaging strategies are an essential component of social marketing and are a widely used campaign model, health campaigns based on this framework have not always been able to effectively operationalize this key component, leading to cases where initiating and sustaining prescribed health behavior has been difficult (MacStravic, 2000 MacStravic , S. (2000). The missing links in social marketing. Journal of Health Communication , 5, 255–263.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]). Based on an examination of the VERB campaign and an Australian breastfeeding promotion campaign, we propose a message development tool within the ambit of the social marketing framework that aims to extend the framework and ensure that the messaging component of the model is contextualized at the core of planning, implementation, and evaluation efforts

Does Identification Matter? How Felt-Connectedness among University Students in Kenya and the USA Influences Health Seeking Behaviours

Guided by social identity theory (SIT), this study considers how identification influences health seeking behaviours among college  students in Kenya and the USA. The study sought to investigate how felt-connectedness among students influenced the health choices they made and the relevance of identification to health. Data were collected using responsive interviews with 22 students in a large Kenyan university and 21 students at a Midwestern university. The age of the participants from both countries ranged from 20 to 29 years. Data were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicate that identification  influenced students’ health seeking behaviours, especially on use of contraceptives, vaccination, choosing a physician, offering advice, eating habits, and in ensuring safety for friends at risk. This study point to the need of health communicators to utilize  identification in health interventions targeting college students

Center for Disease Control’s Diethylstilbestrol Update: A Case for Effective Operationalization of Messaging in Social Marketing Practice

The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Update, a campaign to educate people who may have been exposed to the drug DES, is framed on the premises of the social marketing model, namely formative research, audience segmentation, product, price, placement, promotion, and campaign evaluation. More than that, the campaign takes a critical step in extending the social marketing paradigm by highlighting the need to situate the messaging process at the heart of any health communication campaign. This article uses CDC’s DES Update as a case study to illustrate an application of a message development tool within social marketing. This tool promotes the operationalization of messaging within health campaigns. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to extend the social marketing model and provide useful theoretical guidance to health campaign practitioners on how to accomplish stellar communication within a social marketing campaign

Traditional and Feminist Organizational Communication Ethical Analyses of Messages and Issues Surrounding an Actual Job Loss Case

The difficulties of studying organizational communication ethics often deter researchers and practitioners from addressing ethics in the workplace. In this article, we present an actual job loss case then analyze it from both traditional and feminist organizational communication ethics approaches. Although Redding\u27s (1996) classification of unethical messages offers a useful starting point for ethical analyses, our discussion displays the ways in which his system is incomplete and aligned with managerial biases. We develop a feminist organizational communication ethical approach by adapting Steiner\u27s (1997) broad outline of feminist ethical concerns to messages and message‐related practices. By contrasting these two ethical systems, we offer a more coherent and illuminating framework for problematic issues and future courses of action

Integrating Metatheory to Enhance Qualitative Interviewing: A Safety Campaign Exemplar

This article examines the ways in which integrating a metatheory to guide qualitative interviews supports health theory and the research methodology of interviewing. This study applied Harm Reduction Theory (HRT) as a metatheory to the Reconceptualized Health Belief Model (RHBM) in targeting motorcyclists to practice safety behaviors. After integrating the metatheory with a health behavior theory to develop research questions and frame the interview guide, we recruited and interviewed 37 at-risk motorcyclists. The process of interviewing participants and the results of the study support the integration of harm reduction metatheory to enhance interview methodology as a way to effectively engage participants by building rapport, encouraging participants to apply theory, and empowering them to be open and honest in their responses. This research process highlights ways in which incorporating a metatheory to guide theory diverges from the more traditional, theory-driven approach to interviewing

Integrating Safety in the Aviation System: Interdepartmental Training for Pilots and Maintenance Technicians

The study of human factors has had a decisive impact on the aviation industry. However, the entire aviation system often is not considered in researching, training, and evaluating human factors issues especially with regard to safety. In both conceptual and practical terms, we argue for the proactive management of human error from both an individual and organizational systems perspective. The results of a multidisciplinary research project incorporating survey data from professional pilots and maintenance technicians and an exploratory study integrating students from relevant disciplines are reported. Survey findings suggest that latent safety errors may occur during the maintenance discrepancy reporting process because pilots and maintenance technicians do not effectively interact with one another. The importance of interdepartmental or cross-disciplinary training for decreasing these errors and increasing safety is discussed as a primary implication

Neighborhood walkability and physical activity among older women: Tests of mediation by environmental perceptions and moderation by depressive symptoms.

Features that enhance neighborhood walkability (higher population density, street connectivity and access to destinations) are associated with higher levels of physical activity among older adults. The perceived neighborhood environment appears to mediate associations between the objective built environment and physical activity. The role of depressed mood in these associations is poorly understood. We examined the degree to which depressive symptoms moderated indirect associations between the objective neighborhood environment and physical activity via the perceived neighborhood environment in older women. We analyzed data on 60,133 women (mean age = 73.1 ± 6.7 years) in the U.S. Nurses Health Study cohort who completed the 2008 questionnaire. Self-reported measures included the Geriatric Depression Scale, perceived presence of recreational facilities, retail destinations, sidewalks, and crime, and participation in recreational physical activity and neighborhood walking. We created an objective walkability index by summing z-scores of intersection and facility counts within 1200-meter residential network buffers and census tract-level population density. We used multiple regression with bootstrap-generated 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals (BC CIs) to test for mediation and moderated mediation. Objective walkability was associated with 1.99 times greater odds of neighborhood walking (95% BC CI = 1.92, 2.06) and 1.38 times greater odds of meeting physical activity recommendations (95% BC CI = 1.34, 1.43) via the perceived neighborhood environment. These indirect associations were weaker among women with higher depressive symptom scores. Positive associations between objective neighborhood walkability and physical activities such as walking among older women may be strengthened with a reduction in their depressive symptoms