Population Approaches to Public Health

Question 1

What does evidence show about isolated mass media campaigns?

Answer 1

• Little evidence that they have significant impact on health-related behaviours
• May be better used to raise awareness of health issues rather than to cause behaviour change

Question 2

Why are single media campaigns still frequently used despite limited effect?

Answer 2

Because they reach a large number of people with relative ease

Question 3

What are some of the methods used to maximise the effectiveness of single media campaigns?

Answer 3

• Refining communication to maximise influence on attitudes
• Fear messages
• More specific targeting of interventions

Question 4

What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)?

Answer 4

A method for refining communication for those people less motivated to consider change

Question 5

What does the ELM suggest about the use of rational arguments?

Answer 5

They won’t influence people who aren’t already interested in the issue. Only people with a pre-existing interest will be likely to attend to and act on the information

Question 6

When are individuals more likely to centrally process messages?

Answer 6

If they are motivated to receive an argument when:

• it matches their pre-existing beliefs
• it is personally relevant to them
• they have the intellectual capacity to understand the message

Question 7

What is the difference between central processing and peripheral processing?

Answer 7

Central processing: Individuals motivated to receive an argument

Peripheral processing: Individuals who aren’t interested in the issue, aren’t motivated to process the messages

Question 8

What does peripheral processing involve?

Answer 8

Maximising the credibility & attractiveness of the source/message by using indirect information & cues

Question 9

What did Kirby et al. (1998) find enhances the effectiveness of some interventions?

Answer 9

Combining central processing with peripheral cues

Question 10

What do most studies show about peripheral cues?

Answer 10

Information containing carefully chosen peripheral cues can facilitate attitudinal change in people who are unmotivated to consider issues

Question 11

What does evidence show about the effectiveness of fear messages?

Answer 11

• Relatively effective in creating behaviour change

- High levels of threat are ineffective, e.g. fear arousal campaign for HIV/AIDS

Question 12

What characteristics did Rogers (1983) find make fear messages most effective?

Answer 12

• Arouse fear
• Increase the sense of severity if no change is made
• Emphasise the ability of the individual to prevent the feared outcome

Question 13

Targeting a media campaign audience can be based on what factors?

Answer 13

Behaviour
Age
Gender
Socio-economic status
Sexuality
Psychological factors, including motivation to consider change

Question 14

What were the groups of people in society identified by Rogers (1983)?

Answer 14

• Innovators: Seek out/test new ideas
• Early adopters: Opinion leaders, more influential
• Early majority: Adopt ideas quickly, not influential
• Late majority: Cautious, adopt ideas after they have been well tested by previous groups
• Laggards: Suspicious of change, adopt it late or not at all

Question 15

What innovation factors can influence uptake of certain behaviours?

Answer 15

• Its advantage over previous behaviours
• Its compatibility with the values/norms of the social system its trying to influence (nothing too drastic)
• Ease of uptake (nothing too hard)
• Evidence of effectiveness

Question 16

How can the environment influence health behaviours?

Answer 16

• May contribute directly to risk for disease

- May indirectly influence the ease with which health promoting/damaging behaviours can be conducted

Question 17

The Health Belief Model outlines that an environment that encourages health behaviours should -?

Answer 17

• Provide cues to action/remove cues to unhealthy behaviours
• Enable healthy behaviours by minimising associated costs/barriers
• Increase the costs of engaging in health damaging behaviours

Question 18

What are some ways of disrupting habit and hence changing behaviour?

Answer 18

• Changing location of healthy/unhealthy food on supermarket shelves
• Adding nutritional info to packaging
• Warnings on tobacco products
• Advertisements

Question 19

What are cues to action?

Answer 19

Things that remind us to behave in a healthy manner or change our unhealthy behaviour

Question 20

How can environments inhibit healthy behaviour?

Answer 20

Poor street lighting
Busy roads
High levels of pollution
Shops that sell healthy foods not easily accessible

Question 21

What should an environment that is safe and supportive of healthy living promote?

Answer 21

• Safety
• Opportunities for social integration
• Ability of people to have control over their own lives

Question 22

What are some of the priorities for the Healthy City Movement?

Answer 22

• Reducing health inequalities
• Traffic control
• Tobacco control
• Care for elderly/people with mental health problems

Question 23

What is an example of a barrier to unhealthy behaviour which is designed to facilitate healthy behaviour?

Answer 23

Alcohol/tobacco tax

Question 24

What are some of the approaches used by worksite health programs to promote healthy behaviour?

Answer 24

• Screening for risk factors for disease
• Health education
• Provision of healthy food in eating areas
• Economic incentives
• Manipulating social support
• No-smoking areas