BA (JMC) 108: Health Journalism

Unit 4 (Health Communication)

By Dr. Saima Pervez

Design Communication Campaign: Pre-test and Evaluation

What is a campaign?

A campaign is a planned set of activities that people carry out over a period of time in order
to achieve something such as social or political change.

Campaigns seek to affect large audiences and bring substantial resources to the task
(sometimes monetary, sometimes voluntary, sometimes through collaboration with other
institutions). Campaigns attempt to influence adoption of recommended behaviours by
influencing what people know and believe about the behavior, and/or by influencing actual
and/or perceived social norms, and/or by changing actual skills and confidence in skills (self-
efficacy), all of which are assumed to influence behaviour.

A health communication campaign is an intervention that intends to generate specific

outcomes or effects, in a relatively large number of individuals, usually within a specified
period of time, and through an organized set of communication activities. Public health
campaigns are designed to influence a population to maintain or improve its health status. To
accomplish this, campaign developers must understand the link between behavior and health
status for the population of interest.

Effective health communication campaigns use various methods and approaches to reach
intended audiences. These include:

Media Literacy which teaches intended audiences to analyse media messages to

identify the sponsor’s motives; also teaches communicators how to create messages
geared to the intended audience’s point of view.

Media Advocacy on the other hand is about influencing the people using mass media
channels through selection of topics and shaping the debate on these issues that seek
to change the social and political environment in which decisions on health and health
resources are made.
 Advertising entails placing paid or public service messages in the media or in public
spaces to increase awareness of and support for behaviour change.

Entertainment Education is an effective campaign method that seeks to include

health-promoting messages and storylines into entertainment and news programs or to
eliminate messages that counter health messages; can also include seeking
entertainment industry support for a health issue.

Individual and Group Instruction also influences, counsels, and provides skills to
support healthy behaviours and finally Partnership Development helps to increase
support for a program or issue by harnessing the influence, credibility, and resources
of profit, non-profit, or governmental organizations.

Upstream approach targets audiences, such as community leaders, government officials,

and other influential individuals. These people are important because they have interpersonal
influence, or can create change through their relationship with the target audience to
influence health campaign. Also, they are more likely to have the ability to reform
environmental factors that can shape behavior or influence policy and groups that work at the
national or community level.

Downstream approach on the other hand focuses mainly on two examples of which are
social marketing and social norms campaigns. Many campaigns target the upstream audience
first and then focus their attention on the downstream audience. However, the two approaches
can be used interchangeably or exclusively.

A campaign approach to health communication can help the health communicator design and
disseminate effective messages consistently and strategically. Health communication
campaigns can take many forms, address different objectives, and use a variety of media.

They are usually designed: to influence people’s beliefs and actions towards their health or
the health of others, for specific target audiences or groups, and hardly for the entire
population, for implementation within a particular span of time and to be integrated with
various media and other communication efforts to educate an audience about a health-related
topic.

A good strategy is critical to the success or failure of any health communication campaign
because it provides the linkage between the how and why components. It provides a roadmap
and sense of direction for generating the essential messages while also offering a rationale for
the various actions that are proposed.

A communication campaign development cycle has four stages

 Planning
 Strategy Development
 Implementation
 Evaluation

Planning

The planning phase is important because it lays the foundation for the remaining phases and
steps in the process. It is important to create a solid foundation during this phase; one that is
based on commitment from key stakeholders, valid and sufficient data, and realistic
objectives and timelines.

Steps involved in planning:

 Identifying and understanding the problem

 Determining the potential audience
 Identifying Stakeholders
 Segmenting the audience/Demographic analysis
 Identifying potential communication and financial resources
 Assessing the environment
 Developing a timeline and budget
 Determining project objectives and deliverables

Strategy Development
The strategy development phase determines how you will achieve your project objectives.
During this phase, the marketing plan is developed and the “face” of the campaign is planned
– including the brand, messages and materials. The ideas, opinions and feedback of the target
population(s) are a very important aspect of this phase.
Steps involved in this stage are:

 Developing the key message

 Determining the strategic approach
 Choosing the channels that are the most likely to reach the intended audience
 Determining Tools
 Integrating Messages, Channels, and Tools
 Pre-testing

Pretesting is the process of bringing together members of the priority audience to react to the
components of a communication campaign before they are produced in final form. Pre-testing
measures the reaction of the selected group of individuals and helps determine whether the
priority audience will find the components - usually draft materials understandable,
believable and appealing. Pretesting increases the impact of BCC materials by determining if
what has been designed is suitable for the audience. It can save money, time and energy
overall as the resulting material will be effective.

Implementation

During this phase, the campaign is launched and the marketing plan is implemented. The
marketing aspect of the campaign is usually reinforced and supported with interactive
strategies to increase the impact.

Steps involved:

 Publication/Production of the IEC materials planned as part of the campaign strategy

 Launch of the campaign with targeted media placement, a press release and/or a
press· conference.
 Approaching the target audience as per the decided BCC strategy and plan
 Coordinated action amongst team, stakeholders and participants.

Evaluation
This phase involves conducting process and outcome evaluation (monitoring the process of
the program and evaluating effectiveness). Process evaluation should begin at the start of the
implementation phase and continue throughout the life of the program. Outcome evaluation
helps to measure the impact of the campaign and does not occur until the campaign has been
implemented with fidelity and over a sufficient amount of time. The evaluation informs the
refinement and campaign continuation process.

REFERENCES

O’Sullivan, G. A., Yonkler, J. A., Morgan, W., & Merritt, A. P. (2003). A field guide to
designing a health communication strategy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health/Centre for Communication Programs.

Schiavo, R. (2013). Health communication: From theory to practice (Vol. 217). John Wiley
& Sons.

Total Word Count: 1146

Release Date: 01.05.20