Activity: Imagine that you are a psychologist helping someone cope with the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What would you say to them to help them get through the hard time? Chapter Ten: Health Campaigns and Community Health Initiatives Overview Health campaigns are a systematic effort to change health behaviors within a target population of people who are at risk for a health problem or problems. Changing unhealthy behaviors is often difficult, and studies have shown that health campaigns are often quite ineffective. Creating a health campaign is usually very expensive. The communication discipline has played a vital role in the creation of health campaigns, and a social scientific approach requires drawing from many disciplines such as public health, psychology, education, and communication. Campaign Goals Determining goals can help to decide the target audience, or the group of people the campaign designers would like to influence. Health Awareness and behavioral change campaigns Behavioral change campaigns influence individuals to change something they have control over such as smoking, diet, alcohol consumption, exercise, and sexual behaviors. Public policy approaches Other campaigns attempt to educate people about conditions that promote health or healthcare inequities among marginalized groups. Theoretical Approaches to Health Campaigns Social cognitive theory Social cognitive theory suggests that behavior is the outcome of interaction between cognitive processes and environmental events. Cognitive processes influencing health behavior i. Social cognitive theory suggests that behaviors are influenced by two sets of expectations: (1) the expectation that an action will lead to a particular outcome and (2) the expectation a person has about his or her ability to perform this action. ii. An individual is more likely to perform an action if they acquire self-efficacy, or the belief that they have the ability to have personal control over a situation. iii. Many times short-term health values outweigh long term health values.
Activity: Imagine that you are a psychologist helping someone cope with the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What would you say to them to help them get through the hard time? Chapter Ten: Health Campaigns and Community Health Initiatives Overview Health campaigns are a systematic effort to change health behaviors within a target population of people who are at risk for a health problem or problems. Changing unhealthy behaviors is often difficult, and studies have shown that health campaigns are often quite ineffective. Creating a health campaign is usually very expensive. The communication discipline has played a vital role in the creation of health campaigns, and a social scientific approach requires drawing from many disciplines such as public health, psychology, education, and communication. Campaign Goals Determining goals can help to decide the target audience, or the group of people the campaign designers would like to influence. Health Awareness and behavioral change campaigns Behavioral change campaigns influence individuals to change something they have control over such as smoking, diet, alcohol consumption, exercise, and sexual behaviors. Public policy approaches Other campaigns attempt to educate people about conditions that promote health or healthcare inequities among marginalized groups. Theoretical Approaches to Health Campaigns Social cognitive theory Social cognitive theory suggests that behavior is the outcome of interaction between cognitive processes and environmental events. Cognitive processes influencing health behavior i. Social cognitive theory suggests that behaviors are influenced by two sets of expectations: (1) the expectation that an action will lead to a particular outcome and (2) the expectation a person has about his or her ability to perform this action. ii. An individual is more likely to perform an action if they acquire self-efficacy, or the belief that they have the ability to have personal control over a situation. iii. Many times short-term health values outweigh long term health values.