Week 13: Health Communication Evaluation

Our last lecture was today….this whole semester went very fast! This class was the most enjoyable class I’ve had this semester. What I take away from this class is that when implementing a program I need to learn as much as I can in order for it to successful. The evaluation game was bit hard to do, however as everyone went through the process I learned that as program coordinators we need to be clear for what we are asking for and if there no available resources for help we have to clearly state (to our bosses) what we can do with what we have and go on from there….Personal relevance coupled with hard data can also make our program evaluation successful and perhaps can help with program maintenance. By getting more grant money and convincing the stakeholders that a program is worth investing in, as the 1 to 4 return on investment we talked about in class (ROI).
Anyway, I like that fact that Dr. E mentioned that as public health professional we don’t HAVE to be poor! I mean I’m not ashamed to say that I like having money and I like earning it. Money does consume me, but it’s nice to have it.
The semester is winding down and I’ve learned a lot from this class. I have many tools to choose from, many techniques of health communication to “muddle” through and excited to try some stuff out at my work place. So I want to wish everyone good luck with careers, finals, and our presentation on Monday.
I found this website below through University of Toronto that outlines a lot of the information we talked about in class for Program Evaluation. Click on the PDF file....it has a lot of relevant content on Evaluation design.

http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/evaluation_resources.htm

Have a great semester break everyone!

Get a Life, Get Active, Go Walking!

Great clip to promote walking using media and entertainment.

NBC Today - Life With Diabetes

Great media coverage of diabetes prevention.

Week 12: Popular Culture and Entertainment

Class was fun and interesting this week and I have one more “health promotion/communication tool” I can put in my tool box! We can actually use “Popular Culture and Entertainment” to spread our health message. We learned in class that entertainment contract seems to open our minds; our mindset is different when we expect to be entertained. We are more relaxed and empathic to whatever message is coming our way. The videos we viewed in class really opened my eyes on how popular movies and TV shows can be use to spread our health message. I never would have thought to use the “Simpsons” as a health communication tool to educate people on overeating and perhaps obesity. The movie clip of Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, I would have never thought of using it to teach medical providers on how “not to do CPR” and as a lead in clip on signs and symptoms of a heart attack. All of the clips we saw in class I could envisioned showing at the very beginning of a health promotion campaign to “grab” people’s attention to the message of the program. It’s a great tool; we can entertain and spread our health message at the same time. With popular culture and entertainment, we can have fun, laugh, cry, and promote health at the same time.Anyway, I hope everyone had a very happy and “full” Thanksgiving Day.

Week 11: Web 2.0, Games and Interactive Technology

Tools, tools, tools in spreading our health communication messages! I am learning so much to "think out of the box" in this class when it comes to tools I can use as a health promoter in my work place. I mean, I would have never thought that I could or can use all of this web based tools to my advantage when spreading my message. Yet, many well known agencies such as the CDC for example have already mastered this fast and ever changing communication tool. I agree that the Web or Web 2.0 is a great communication tool, it is easy, fast, and it brings people together and as a result we are better informed.
We talked about many advantages and disadvantages of Web 2.0 in class. However, the Internet or the Web is so fast when it comes to spreading information that at times it can get scary. There are so much information out there that it is important to be "choosy" about which source is credible. We talked about easy access to health information in class, "self diagnosis" and the danger of not consulting with our health care providers. I think one of the scariest services that the web offers is the ability to buy prescription medications and other types of drugs. Coming from a health care provider perspective, I just don’t think it’s safe. Check out this article at MSNBC.com, it’s about teens abusing prescription medications ordered in the Internet. Check this link out:
Teens turn to Internet for prescription drugs - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com

I think another danger with this fast and easy information in the Web is that it can start people to mobilize against a company and can ruin a company or a person's reputation in the process. Check out this link that was created as almost like a support group for dissatisfied customers and employees of Enterprise rent-a-car.
http://www.failingenterprise.com/forums/index.php

Anyway, good or bad the Web is here to stay. It's good to know that as a health promoter I can use this as a tool to use my message. Although I just learned how to blog so it might take me a few tries to be comfortable with this health communication tool.

Check out the AVIS video below, it's really funny!

new Avis / XM commercial

We were talking about car rental companies in class today and we named Avis as one of the leading car rental company. This commercial is sooo funny! Talking about framing their message to a segment of the population to the "yuppies" and younger customers! This video makes me laugh every time I see it!

Week 10: Advertising, Public Relations, & Media Advocacy

The class this week was interesting in a “weird” way. I guess I never really thought of public relations as part of health promotion, but I can see how this tool can be a powerful one in promoting health. The guest speaker actually used some techniques that I am using right for my Health Promotion Planning and Assessment class (PH666) with Dr. Koslow. She talked about developing goals that realistic, specific, measurable, tractable and time bound. Also, she mentioned community outreach, community involvement, and networking. Familiarizing ourselves with media….we need to be “media hounds”. As we have learned throughout this semester, if we use media as a tool to get our message out, we need to know the stories, know what interests them in order to successfully utilize this tool. As in “know thy self”, but instead “know thy tools”. However, I don’t know everyone else in class, but dealing with reporters or the media is a very unfamiliar territory for me and a little bit scary/intimidating. It’s a great tool to use as we have learned in class last week, but getting a few hours of lecture in class doesn’t really make me confident that I will able to navigate the world of PR and media. But as Dr. Engelberg stated in class PR and Media is just another tool we can use to spread the word of our health promotion campaigns.

Week 9: The San Diego Fire

It has been a scary week for everyone in San Diego. I cannot imagine what must go through the minds of the people who lost their homes and had to evacuate. I have not been personally affected by the fire, but I did have a friend who lives in Chula Vista and was very scared for her since the fire was so close to her home. I have to say a thousand “thank you” to our great firefighters and emergency responders, they did an outstanding job! I’m from Washington State and I’ve never seen a wildfire like this….it rains too much! I am very impressed with the people in San Diego, the volunteers, and the outpouring donations and just the kindness that this tragedy brought out. It definitely tells people not from this city that San Diegans rally together to take care of each other when tragedy strikes! The community just came together and helped those in need! People’s kindness still exists; it’s there, although I think in our every day “busy” lives we forget the act of kindness, we forget to be kind to each other.
I hope that everyone remained safe and with family through this devastating event. Watching the fire on television since Sunday, it is humbling to see what Mother Nature can do to us even with the power and technology that our country possesses. I’m hugging my daughter and my husband just a little bit more each day after this fire. My hope is that we don’t forget to help those people who are still struggling to put what is left together from this tragedy. My husband and I decided to donate money to the Red Cross; this is the only way we feel that we can help even if it is just a little bit.
Stay safe, be kind, and be hopeful, we live in a great and beautiful city!

SAN DIEGO FIRE PHOTOS

Week 8: Message Strategies in Health Communication

Cancer - Colorectal Cancer's Screen for Life Campaign Public Service Announcements
This a great website and videos on testimonials of different celebrities encouring people to get their colorectal cancer screening done. It's great since these are people/celebrities that have had this screening done!

Today class was again interesting, the groups did an excellent job on our first Mini-project. Hooray for everyone! Again, I learned a lot in class today. The lecture on “framing our message” with our target audience in the center of our health campaign universe. We learned different ways to shape our message, from using every day relatable situations (slice of life), to using fear, humor, and testimonial from people. So what did I learn about myself? What kind of health campaigns/messages do I listen to? I think we’ve talked about “personal relevance” in class a few weeks ago and I think for me and the way my brain process information, l listen more to people who have been through the struggle. Someone who is promoting colorectal cancer screening should have gone through the procedure. I can relate more to someone who does testimonials since it seems to be more believable…from struggling and surviving breast cancer to suffering from a chronic disease like diabetes. I also tend to pay more attention to health messages that “tug” at the heartstring and realistic compare to my own experiences. I can relate to it since all of the spokesperson has had the screening done. The recommendation is 50 years of age, but it is a successful campaign, at least on me, since I keep thinking as I was watching the video that if they can do it I can too! Not that I need it, not yet anyway….I have a few years to go!
We also talked about “reference” point. What are we comparing these messages to? It was an interesting exercise that Dr. Engelberg did in class about the price of the calculator ($20) and the computer ($2,000). Most of us will care about a $10 savings on a $20 calculator, but not on a $2,000 computer! $10 dollars is $10 dollars…does it really matter that the computer is $2,000? Apparently it does, it’s a way of thinking that we are paying $2,000 anyway so what’s $10 more! Believe me; I am guilty of this way of thinking! There are so many things to think about when creating a health campaign, I’m hoping that I can take away some basic principles we’ve learned in class and apply it when I come back to my real world! Have a great week everyone!

LOW HEALTH LITERACY PUTS PATIENTS AT GREATER RISK FOR...

This video really shows what we talked about in class today about health literacy. It's good to see that effective communication is believe to finally affect patient safety. Medications to help control high blood pressure, diabetes and pain can help people manage a chronic condition, but if taken the wrong way can cause more harm to the body that help it.

Faces of Influenza PSA

This is a great Flu Vaccination campaign and it really does a good job identifying the people who really need to be vaccinated and are at risk. Plus the American Lung Association hired a really famous person to be the spokesperson! I just learned for my group project what our target audience will be and what segment of the population we need to focus on for a health campaign about Flu Vaccination.

Diabetes: Get Serious

This is an add campaign about diabetes in Canada. It's very sobering to me and it really hits home how diabetes can kill people if not well managed. Since diabetes affects my family it's a great add with a "shock factor".

Week 5 - Target audience Segmentation

I can't believe it took 5 weeks for me to finally post a YouTube video in my blog! I still feel that "blogging" thing is still a little foreign to me. But hey, I posted a video this week! Anyway, I thought this video really related to our class topic this week of target audience segmentation. The video is very specific about targeting children to "get up" and move. It's a childhood obesity health communication campaign. I think it's very smart to use the main characters in Shrek, c'mon who doesn't like donkey! Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you know a 4 or 5 year old who doesn't know Shrek, donkey and Fiona. Just hearing donkey sing in this video made me want to get up and dance!We covered many topics in class last Monday, from seeing a video on formative research that talked about learning the values, attitudes, and behavior of consumers to our outdoor group exercise on our target audience segmentation. One thing that really stayed in my mind was when Professor Engelberg emphasized the importance of "knowing" our own values, attitudes, and behavior as health promoters/communicators. I think it's true that if we are not aware of our own values, attitudes, and behavior we can perhaps try to "manipulate", in a bad way, a health campaign into what "we" think is the right path to take and ignore our target populations' needs. As we talked about in class, we might not feel empathy for our target audience. I know for sure that as a breast health educator and case manager of breast cancer patient, I was trying to feel empathy for the mix emotions, and grieving process that my patients feel during their diagnosis. However, I know that I could never ever put myself in their shoes due to the fact that I've never experienced what it is like to have breast cancer. I would not wish this disease on anybody.

Peace everyone and stay healthy and happy!

Childhood Obesity Prevention featuring Shrek (english, 30s)

Week 4 - Active Listening and Selective Memory

As usual I learned a lot in class today about active listening and question asking. I found a good site in the internet that talks about active listening and what we can do to improve it in our career and everyday life. It's an interesting site. Here it is and I hope you all find it relevant to our class like I did: http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Mind%20Tools%20Listening.pdf. The lab in our class was again a little tough to do. It was certainly hard to apply my active listening skills...such as paraphrasing, asking open ended questions, and paying extra attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues. The person in my group was really good at playing a 15 year old boy! Since I don't usually "deal" with teenagers other than in the mall settings...it was tough to "actively listen" and apply, without hesitation, the skill that we talked about in class. Anyway, I also like the part in our lecture on "value of selective" such as selective attention, perception and memory. Selective memory is what my husband accuses me of always practicing on him when I'm "mad". I think it's a good skill to have to survive in any relationship!!! So check out my "selective memory" cartoon above, this really reminds me of what talked about in class! Have a great weekend everyone!

Week 3-Theories of Health Communication

The lecture this week was very interesting, especially the part on Dual Process Persuasion. I am realizing that health communication has many different parts and that for us to modify a behavior it important to think about the source, message, channel, receiver, and destination of our health communication campaign. The group exercise in class was also very interesting, it was difficult for me to think about the different ideas on how to get low involvement seniors to get up and be motivated to exercise. In theory it seems so easy to understand, but the application process was much harder than I thought it was going to be, but having people "brainstorm" in a group can inspire some great ideas! One aspect of the lecture that Dr. Engelberg talked about that I can really relate to is the concept of personal relevance. Looking at my own behavior, I do tend to pay attention more closely to issues that are personally relevant to my own life. It's an "AHA!" moment for me that health communication is partly about finding out what makes our target population "tick"!

Another topic was that health communication involves manipulation in a "good way", well I agree with that since we are trying to convince people to modify a bad health behavior. Modifying people's bad health behavior is a very difficult task to accomplish and using all the tools available to us to affect a behavior to change in positive way, I think I can live with...it kind feels like the cartoon I posted above).

See you all Monday!

Week 2 of Health Communication

Hello everyone,

Well, the second week of the semester is almost over...tomorrow is Friday! I did the homework today and was not really surprise (working in the hospital setting) that most of "health communication" I observed was mostly about colon, stomach and breast cancer prevention (60%). Although many treatments (40%) still occur by way of surgery (appendectomy, breast lump removal, colon resections etc.), but mostly the clinic deals with breast exams, colonoscopies, and endoscopy (stomach cancer screening) patients. We perform approximately 6 to 7 upper and lower scopes a day in the clinic and this does not include the breast exams done by the surgeons in the clinic. Health communication, I think, need to include educating individual, patients, and groups about disease treatment and prevention. It's good to see that this particular clinic spends more time on prevention and screening practices versus the traditional view point of medicine that focuses on treatment and not prevention. I still think that preventive medicine has a long way to go, it's still not fully embraced by our society or by the medical community as whole. But as we've discussed in class, certain "corporations" have more money to spend and treatment (drugs, pharmaceutical) is where the "big" bucks come from....
Anyway, I better stop talking....


See you all monday!

The first week of PH663-Health Communication

Hello everyone,

Last week was an experienced of "massive" confusion for me. I'm sure all of us have experienced a week or a day in our lives where everything seem to be happening at once. Well, last week was that week for me and my family. My husband and I had the task of juggling moving to our new home, starting school for me, and taking care of our 2 1/2 year old little girl. Now, everyone is probably wondering how is this related to health communication? Well, it so happen that my daughter's immunization appointment was scheduled the same week! With the week being so "crazy" I had forgotten to "communicate" to my husband that he needed to bring my daughter to see the doctor since, due to poor planning on my part, her appointment was the same time as my PH668 class! So basicallyI feel that last week, I did not do well in my "communication" to my husband about my daughters required immunization which is important in maintaining her "health". Maybe if I could have utilized other "media/medium" of communication other than just writing the appointment in my personal calendar...perhaps the appointment might not have been missed! Perhaps I could have utilized a community calendar for my family easily seen by everyone (including me) posted in the kitchen area? Or perhaps I could have used a posted note on the refrigerator? In relating my experience to our class discussion, we have to use more than one strategy to make health communication successful.

See you all next Monday,
Maria