title: Effectiveness of a Multifaceted Community-Based Promotion Strategy on Use of GetHealthyHarlem.org, a Local Community Health Education Website.
abstract: The use of health communication extends beyond simply promoting or disseminating a particular product or proposed behavior change; it involves the systematic and strategic integration and execution of evidence-based, theory-driven, and community engagement strategies. Much like in public health intervention design based on health behavior theory, health communication seeks to encourage the target audience to make a positive behavior change through core concepts such as understanding and specifying the target audience, tailoring messages based on audience segmentation, and continually conducting evaluation of specific and overarching goals. While our first article "Development of a Culturally Relevant Consumer Health Information Website for Harlem, New York" focused on the design, development, and initial implementation of GetHealthyHarlem.org between 2004 and 2009, this article delves into the process of promoting the website to increase its use and then evaluating use among website visitors. Just as for the development of the website, we used community-based participatory research methods, health behavior theory, and health communication strategies to systemically develop and execute a health communication plan with the goals of increasing awareness of GetHealthyHarlem.org in Harlem, driving online traffic, and having the community recognize it as a respected community resource dedicated to improving health in Harlem.
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA Michelle.Smith@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Katrina F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Mateo
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Haruka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.affiliation: Harlem Health Promotion Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Carly
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.affiliation: Harlem Health Promotion Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Alwyn T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Cohall
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009519:New York City; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D015980:Public Health Practice; D040241:Social Marketing; D061108:Social Media
keywords: community-based participatory research; consumer health; cultural competence; health literacy; health promotion; internet/electronic interventions; social marketing/health communication