BPK 340 - Module 8

What is health literacy

the ability of individuals to find, understand, evaluate, and use health information to make informed decisions about their health and health care

Capacity of an individual to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health info and services in ways that are health enhancing

Health education

Planned opportunities for people to learn about health in order to make changes in their behaviour

Involves knowledge translation

Historically limited to “dos and don’ts” and focused on communicable diseases

Health communication

A process that bridges the gap between health info and health practices

It motivates the person to take info and do something with it to keep themselves healthier by avoiding actions that are harmful and by forming ahbits that are beneficial

Without communication, there is no _____ _____

health promotion

Communication is the heart of ______

prevention

Meaning-centered communication

Sharing info in a way that helps people understand why it matters to them, not just what it says

• intentional

• purposeful

• aware of the sender and the receivers context

You want to the reciever to ascribe a particular meaning to what we are saying

Communicating in a way that helps people grasp why it matters to them personally, fostering engagement, motivation and meaningful behaviour change

Barriers to health communication

Disinterest in science

Distrust in scientific community

Bias of individual

Health literacy level

Health education exposure

Social marketing for health

Using marketing strategies and techniques to encourage healthy behaviours and improve public health

Incoporate principles of marketing

Treat behaviour change as a product to:

• generate discussion

• promote info, attitudes, values, and behaviours

• help create a climate conductive to social and behavioural change

• have target gorup voluntarily adopt the behaviour change

Examples of social marketing in the past

Abolishing slavery

Getting women teh vote

Title 9 in NVAA for womens sport

Prohibitng alcohol

5 steps of social marketing

1. Market segmentation

2. Target marketing

3. Consumer research

4. Mass media

5. Tracking of results (“outcome measures”)

Social marketing benchmark criteria (6)

1. Behavioural change

2. Formative research i.e what is unique about a specific group

3. Segmentation: dividing general target audience into smaller homogenous segments based on shared characteristics

4. Marking mix: 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion

5. Exchange between the consumers and the program developer based on the consumers wants and needs

6. Competition

Downstream social marketing

Focus: targets individuals and their behaviours

Goal: encourage behaviour change at the personal level

Examples: anti-smoking - helping quit through apps, patches, motivational messages

*from the health promotion organization to the “consumer” of the message

Upstream social marketing

Focus: Targets broader social, environmental, or policy-level factors that influence behaviour

Goal: create systemic changes that make healthy behaviours easier or more accessible

Examples: policies that ban smoking in public, implementing urban planning

*from the health promotion organization to industry or government, attempts to change “environment” (politcal, social, legal, physical, public policy)

Give an example of a downstream and upstream campaign for the goal of getting impaired drivers off the road

Downstream: awareness and education

Upstream: changing policies around impaired driving

Health marketing

Involves creating, communicating, and delivering health information and interventions using customer-centered and science-based strategies to protect and promote the health of diverse populations

How does health marketing go beyond communication

Looks at where people are accessing message, their barriers and supports and the costs/benefits to the person of adopting the particular health practices

Looks at ‘whole landscape of what is going to take to change behaviour’

Market research is crucial for effective health promotion by:

Providing insights into target audiences, understanding their needs, and tailoring health interventions to maximize impact

It helps identify barriers to behaviour change and optimize messaging and delivery strategies for successful health campaigns

Four P’s of marketing

Product: behaviour change, or something that helps with behaviour change

Price: what the person has to invest to change (money or effort)

Place: where the behaviour occurs

Promotion: communication strategy

In order for a product, service or message to be effectively marketed:

It must be tailored to the customer needs, priced realistically, distributed through convenient channels and actively promoted to customers

How are health consumers different from other types of consumers

Because healthcare service, product, or behaviour might be necessary but not something they actually want

Examples of marketing and exchange between traiditonal marketing and health promotion

Additional 4 P’s of social marketing

Publics: different groups of people who will be affected by this health promotion

Partnerships

Policy: government and corporations

Purse strings: amount of money available to launch initiatives

Competition

Consider your competition

Competing for target markets time, commitment, and money

Consider other programs out there

Competing for funding, partners, stakeholders, etc

Communication channel analysis

Identify the best way to communicate with the target audience and know about their preferred sources of communication

Examples of sources of communication

Mass media: radio, websites, social media

People

Personal communication

Public events

Printed Materials

Pilot testing

Branding

Brand image

Tagline

Logo

Personality

Stats of people who use health and fitness apps in Canada as of March 2023

Yes: 28%

No: 68%

How many people see mental health as important as physical? What type of promotions are used to facilitate this?

85% of people in 19 different ocuntries

Well-being apps can be an affordable and accessible option

Digital health tech trends

2023 global market size for prescribed health apps is estimated at USD 4.2 billion and projected growth of 12.5 billion by 2032

Attributed to many facotrs, including increasing smartphone penetration, growing prevalence of chronic diseases, and heightened focus on personalized healthcare

Chronic disease management, medication management, specific conditions, lifestyle management apps

Facts about health promotion apps

Many already own and use them

Most use APPs for games and social networking

Does not require face-to-face contact, making it potentially less expensive

Follow at own pace

Can be scaled-up within a population

Can reach people in their own environment where the beahviours happen
Some tech can monitor and provide feedback, but not very authentic

Minimal social interaction

2/3rds only use it oncce

Adherence drops under 50% in 1-2 weeks

Wearable medical products and online medical techniques

Revolutionizing patient monitoring and health management. These devices, ranging from fitness trackers to advanced medical wearables, enable continuous health monitoring, personalized care, and data-driven treatment approaches

Broadened beyond traditional large-scale machinery to include everday items like wathces, that are capable of gathering vital medical data

50% of ppl attended virtual medical appointment

Cybersecurity developments

Becoming more critical as healthcare uses mroe digital tools

Over 50% worry about security risks and 40% have concerns about smartwatches and fitness trackers

Therefore strong cybersecurity is needed to maintain patient trust

Digital health promotion evidence

Not definitive, appears to be positive effects but tech should not be considered a panacea

Many studies have small sample sizes with short follow-up periods/ Studies often evaluate efficacy but not effectiveness

Target market

specific group of people who are similar in: demographics, behaviours, preferences, and/or needs

Choosing and understanding and/or working with your target audience is vital to appropriate health communication, education, literacy and marketing

3 steps in choosing a target audience

1. clearly define your audience, demographics, values, behaviours, barriers

2. segment them, demographically, socioeconomically, geographically, by health status

3. analyze the market, media use, leisure activities, language spoken, values

Market segmentation

A market segment is a relatively homogenous yet distinct group of people

Several ways to:

1. geographic

2. demographic

3. psychographic

4. behaviour/current status

5. activities and lifestyle

6. etc.

Demographic segments

Socioeconomic status

Age

Gender

Income

Family life cycle (eg. new mom)

Education

Psychographic segments

Psychographic: the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in market research

Social status, lifestyle, personality traits, activities/interests/opinions, and values/attitudes

Values

Principles, convictions and internal beliefs that people adopt and follow in their daily activities

Beliefs, thoughts&feelings, behaviour

*Hard to change, can’t impose your values on theirs

Behaviour/current status segmentation

Habits

barriers

triggers

current status

status of change

Activites/lifestyle segmentation

How do they spend their money

Where do they socialize

what engages them most

what do they read, watch, or listen to

how do they socialize (i.e during exercise?)

How is market segmentation used

Used to identify target audiences: tailor messages differently to different market segments → segments respond to campaign elements differently

Analyzing each segment of the market may involve:

focus groups, surverys, literature review, consulting with marketing resources for that group

Things to consider:

• preferred media

• how they communicate with each other

• languages spoken, including slang and dialects

• beleifs, attitudes, opinions about the sepcific health beahviour

• overall values

Dont guess!!

Stages in constructing segmentation

1. Identify potential target audiences (incidence, severity, surveillence)

2. What do you already know about these groups

   1. reports, reviews

   2. knowledge, attitudes, perception of risk, beliefs, trust in authroities, locus of control

   3. demographics and social demographics

   4. preferred info channels

   5. use of services

3. Determine if new data is required

4. Decide what analysis is feasible with the data available

5. Question the validity and utility of segments

   1. manageable number? 3-8

   2. clearly defined matching defined interventions

   3. large enough to be economically feasible

   4. likeliness to change

TARPARE, identifying target audiences

T: total # of people in segment

AR: at risk

P: persuadability

A: accessibility

R: resources required

E: equity, i.e is there anything we need to consider for equal opportunity

How have social media platforms become powerful tools in health communication

Engages audience with dynamic, interactive content

Connects individuals, health professionals and organizations

Support education, awareness and health interventions

Fosters community building and peer support

Benefits of social media

Allows us to target a large audience in a short time

Sharing info, thoughts and ideas

Social support

Interactive

Targeted

Social media best practices

Clear and well-defined objectives, research and behaviour change theories

Research, understanding of target audience

Use of behaviour changes theories as a guide

Using social marketing techniques

Branding

most appropriate channel for target group

Allow free access

Creative content (adverts, videos, new links, widgets, etc)

Engagement and action-focused content

Compliment with mobile itnerventions

Persuasion

Ethos: using moral character

pathos: appleaing to emotion

Logos: appealing to logic

All three strategies can be appropriate at different times