Reflection on Health Communication Social Marketing Program

STEP 3: REFLECTION ON YOUR HEALTH COMMUNICATION SOCIAL MARKETING PROGRAM

My topic ( Challenge) is : Health alert

Write: Please reflect on your program and the process you went through. Your paper should explore and answer the following questions. You should be thorough in your reflection. I would expect each question to be a minimum of 3 paragraphs or 350 words.

As always, you need to cite any original work that you are referencing. Provide citations in any style that you prefer (e.g., APA, MLA, etc.), and use that style consistently.

Most importantly, you will need to connect the program that you designed to the real needs, desires, and lives of people. You should make this connection by referring to the people you interviewed early in the course and, of course, you are also welcome to refer to secondary research on the demographic groups who were your intended audiences.

What was it about the initial problem that made you select it? Did your research uncover anything surprising about the issue?

How did writing the problem statement and goals and objectives clarify for you what the public health problem was, who is affected, and what you proposed to do to address it.

Were you able to find similar interventions in your secondary research? How did your secondary research help shortcut some of the efforts you undertook?

How did you go about the primary research of in-depth interviewing? What are the advantages and disadvantages you found to this qualitative data collection method?
How did target audience insights impact your program strategy? Did it help you focus on those most ready for action? If not, why did you choose the audience or segments you did?

In this world of information clutter, you often only have seconds to capture the attention before they lose interest. How did you use simple, clear, action oriented messaging to persuade your target audience to do what you were asking?

How did you identify and remove barriers to the behavior change you were seeking for your target audience?
How did you bring the real benefits of the program top of mind for your target audience?
What was your competition and how did you highlight the cost of the competing behaviors to convince your target audience to adopt your action?
Did you use any nudges or non-monetary incentives to influence your target audience (e.g. commitments or pledges)? Did you use tangible goods or services to help your target audience perform the behavior? Why or Why not?
Why did you select the tone of the messages you created?
What channels did you use and why were these selected? How did user insights inspire this choice? How did other inspirational examples inspire this choice? How did other strategic theories and knowledge inspire this choice?
What kind of tracking and monitoring was in place? If you actually ran this campaign, what kinds of tweaks might you have expected to have to make as the program was running?
Think through the impact that you hope this program will have among your targeted audience. What is your reasoning around how this tool will have impact?

Course Description:

There is an increasing recognition of the role communication plays in shaping the health and well-being of individuals. Communication, from the personal to mass and social media, have been demonstrated to have both beneficial and harmful effects on health and well-being. In this course, students will explore the theory and practice of health communication and behavior change. It will cover the role of media and technology, social scientific theories used in health communication and behavior change, as well as how these theories can be applied to the real-world.

The course will aim to bridge theoretical knowledge with real-world examples, and is suitable for students with varying interests, especially those who are interested in harnessing the power of communication and health education for improving health and well-being in society.

Understanding how and why facets of communication influence health outcomes is essential for students interested in developing effective solutions to improve people’s health and well-being. Some questions we will tackle include: What social, environmental, and media factors are effective in influencing people’s behavior? How should messages and environments be designed and molded? How do stories help people engage in healthier behaviors? How can communication help to foster better health and well-being in society?

Course Overview:

This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of topics related to the field of health communication. The field is a diverse one, spanning across traditional sub-disciplines of communication. This course will introduce students to theory, research, in the application of health communication. Students will be provided with an understanding of the key concepts and conceptual frameworks in health communication such as, theory, research, how to segment, influence and reach and target audiences. Students will design health messages, beginning with the selection of a health condition and moving though the stages of planning and designing the messages, as well as planning implementation and evaluation strategies to assess their effects and effectiveness to gain an understanding of the principles to create messages and materials for behavior change initiatives.