Drink This Not That

The End of Module 1: Establishing a Framework for Health Communication

My top three insights from the first module include the distinction between health communication and social marketing, the five dimensions of communication, and the difference between mass communications and audience segmentation.

For this first point I have learned that the two terms, health communication and social marketing, are not interchangeable. Rather, health communication is one facet in the matrix of social marketing. While health communication focuses primarily on what one thinks, feels, and does, social marketing is much more exclusively focused on behavior. For example, simply changing one's attitude toward a behavior, such as energy drink consumption, regardless of whether or not that person stops consuming energy drinks, would be considered a success in the realm of health communication. The message was received, the attitude of the individual was altered, and perhaps down the road behavior will also be modified. In social marketing, however, this would not be the case. The behavior, or action, is the bottom line: Did the person stop consuming energy drinks or not? This is an important distinction that I think all health promotion practitioners must realize before implementing campaigns and deciding on their target outcome.

My second insight is related to the five dimensions of communication. As I have mentioned in my previous post, this step-by-step approach to developing a health communication message helped to simplify and solidify my understanding of the various components that ultimately influence the quality of a health campaign. Not only is it enough to have a great health message targeted toward an important behavior, but one must also consider the source of a message, how the message will reach the intended audience, and what ends the message will accomplish. These are aspects of communication that commercial marketers frequently employ, but that are sometimes forgotten in health promotion.

Lastly, I found the distinction between mass communication and audience segmentation to be very interesting. I think that this may have been one of the biggest mistakes of early health campaign efforts: they forgot to consider the unique traits and characteristics of their target population. Mass communication means simply disseminating a message to a large portion of the population and is mostly ineffective. While it seems like common sense to research, understand, and target a specific segment of the population, the failure to consider this aspect has been the pitfall of many previous campaigns. Sometimes the most intuitive aspects of practice are the most important to continue to refresh and remember when implementing a health message.

I hope in my own career to put these concepts to use when formulating a health message, campaign, or intervention. I think it's important to start with the target audience to assess what they need and want for themselves and their community. Certainly, the take-away point of the social marketing perspective is that instead of being organization-centered, we must be client-centered. This is the philosophy behind any successful organization. The focus must be on the needs and desires of the client, who feels supported and encouraged by the organization, which in turn fosters a sense of trust, mutual respect, and continued collaboration between the two. Whether it be a large hospital, a chain retail store, or a small community clinic, when the client is put first, everybody comes out on top.

In regards to the question posted by Chelsea about our group topic, I think she is absolutely right about starting with the target population to see what is important to them before devising a health intervention. However, I also think that it is true that sometimes the population is not aware of a particular issue, or does not perceive it as a real threat at all. In this case, we as the health promotion "specialists" must find a way of creating awareness among the population in a way that is relevant to their unique traits and characteristics. Certainly, I think this may be the case with college students and energy drink consumption; they probably have a low involvement in this issue. Therefore, I think it would be completely appropriate for us to focus our campaign on educating and creating awareness of the possible harmful effects of consumption, as well as some healthier alternatives to boosting energy and stamina.