Cameron Overmars, Shamieka Dubois, Philippa Maynard, Nicola Scott, Alexis Le Clerc, Matthew Clarke, Sarah McGill, Tracey O'Brien
{"title":"UV arrows descend from above: lessons from a mass media campaign to improve sun protection behaviours among young adults.","authors":"Cameron Overmars, Shamieka Dubois, Philippa Maynard, Nicola Scott, Alexis Le Clerc, Matthew Clarke, Sarah McGill, Tracey O'Brien","doi":"10.17061/phrp3422416","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>More than 95% of melanomas in Australia are caused by UV radiation from the sun. Young adults are particularly at risk, with 18-24-year-olds spending more time in the sun and protecting their skin less than older adults. A new mass media campaign was delivered in New South Wales, Australia, to motivate this hard-to-reach group to protect their skin from harmful UV radiation. This paper shares learnings from this campaign for public health educators working across diverse fields.</p><p><strong>Program: </strong>Guided by audience research and testing, the campaign combined fear-based and self-efficacy messaging. UV radiation was portrayed as arrows descending from the sky, transforming it into a visible and ever-present threat. High-reach channels such as cinema, outdoor advertising, online videos, audio apps and social media were used to reach the audience.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The campaign was evaluated through an online tracking survey (n = 750, 18-24-year-olds) measuring prompted recognition, message take-out, key diagnostics, and self-reported sun protection intentions and behaviours.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The evaluation found that 57% of survey participants recognised the campaign when prompted. Among those that recognised the campaign, 76% said they had used sun protection when outdoors over the summer campaign period (vs 64% of non-recognisers, p < 0.05), and 45% said they had adopted at least three of the five sun protection behaviours (Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide) 'always' or 'often' (vs. 36% of non-recognisers, p < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Lessons learnt: </strong>A mass-media campaign that aimed to elicit emotional (fear) and cognitive (perceived efficacy) responses and which drew upon social and heuristic cues was associated with greater self-reported sun protection among the target audience. Delivering a combination of message strategies simultaneously within a campaign tailored to young adults may be more effective than adopting a more singular focus.</p>","PeriodicalId":45898,"journal":{"name":"Public Health Research & Practice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Health Research & Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3422416","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: More than 95% of melanomas in Australia are caused by UV radiation from the sun. Young adults are particularly at risk, with 18-24-year-olds spending more time in the sun and protecting their skin less than older adults. A new mass media campaign was delivered in New South Wales, Australia, to motivate this hard-to-reach group to protect their skin from harmful UV radiation. This paper shares learnings from this campaign for public health educators working across diverse fields.
Program: Guided by audience research and testing, the campaign combined fear-based and self-efficacy messaging. UV radiation was portrayed as arrows descending from the sky, transforming it into a visible and ever-present threat. High-reach channels such as cinema, outdoor advertising, online videos, audio apps and social media were used to reach the audience.
Methods: The campaign was evaluated through an online tracking survey (n = 750, 18-24-year-olds) measuring prompted recognition, message take-out, key diagnostics, and self-reported sun protection intentions and behaviours.
Results: The evaluation found that 57% of survey participants recognised the campaign when prompted. Among those that recognised the campaign, 76% said they had used sun protection when outdoors over the summer campaign period (vs 64% of non-recognisers, p < 0.05), and 45% said they had adopted at least three of the five sun protection behaviours (Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide) 'always' or 'often' (vs. 36% of non-recognisers, p < 0.05).
Lessons learnt: A mass-media campaign that aimed to elicit emotional (fear) and cognitive (perceived efficacy) responses and which drew upon social and heuristic cues was associated with greater self-reported sun protection among the target audience. Delivering a combination of message strategies simultaneously within a campaign tailored to young adults may be more effective than adopting a more singular focus.
期刊介绍：
Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, quarterly, online journal with a strong focus on the connection between research, policy and practice. It publishes innovative, high-quality papers that inform public health policy and practice, paying particular attention to innovations, data and perspectives from policy and practice. The journal is published by the Sax Institute, a national leader in promoting the use of research evidence in health policy. Formerly known as The NSW Public Health Bulletin, the journal has a long history. It was published by the NSW Ministry of Health for nearly a quarter of a century. Responsibility for its publication transferred to the Sax Institute in 2014, and the journal receives guidance from an expert editorial board.
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