Evaluating the effects of a youth health media campaign.
This article examines the impact of a socially oriented public health media campaign that aims to influence social indicators among adults as a means to advances in youth health outcomes. Hierarchical regression analyses are conducted on telephone survey data from 18 weekly telephone surveys of adults in Kansas. Media campaign exposure was positively associated with two outcome measures: beliefs about youth development and behaviors toward youth development. In addition, these two outcome measures increased significantly over time, with the dissemination of the campaign's television and newspaper advertisements. Furthermore, these over-time increases were present only among respondents who were exposed to the media campaign. These findings offer support for the campaign's influence on the two social indicators, which would, per other research, be expected to influence improvements in youth health. Findings are discussed in reference to previous research in the areas of public health and mass communication, with implications made for practitioners and researchers.
Beaudoin
Christopher E
CE
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA. beaudoin@tulane.edu
Thorson
Esther
E
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007615:Kansas; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D015397:Program Evaluation; D040241:Social Marketing