Topic > Health Promotion Campaigns: Purpose and Importance

IndexSocial MarketingMass MediaTwo-Way CommunicationHealth Belief Model for Behavior ChangeTranstheoretical Model of Behavior ChangeThe transtheoretical model was developed in 1982 by Prochaska and DiClemente with the goal of quitting of smoking.Socioeconomic FactorsHealth Promotion promotes health in the hope that people will listen and change their health for the better. It is important because people who listen to advertising, for example, are influenced by advertising and it will influence them and therefore their behavior is likely to change because of advertising. In this report I will examine a campaign that I will use to explain patterns of behavior change, I will also evaluate how socioeconomic factors can influence the ability of health education campaigns to change health behavior. The campaign I will be looking at is the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a mental health campaign for men. This campaign aims to encourage men to communicate their feelings, because the stereotype is that women communicate their feelings more than men. Males are generally told to "hands up", but females are given sympathy when they are feeling down. But in reality "male suicide is the biggest killer in the UK" according to CALM. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssaySocial MarketingSocial marketing uses techniques used to sell items, except in social marketing the campaigns try to sell people a better lifestyle. For example, in CALM they try to encourage men to talk openly about how they feel to prevent male suicide. There are clear goals set when planning to use social marketing. CALM's clear goals are to reduce the number of male suicides and to do this they are trying to make them feel comfortable speaking out. CALM used social media to publicize their campaign. There is a YouTube video on their YouTube channel that is effective in getting males to talk about their problems. They use language that males typically use, instead of saying “feeling depressed” or “feeling down,” CALM says “feeling crap.” This is an informal approach that will make men feel comfortable talking to the charity and will also make them feel like they are not "stupid" or "weak" because there is a stigma around men talking about how they feel. Men watching the video may believe this stigma and therefore the language used in the video is important to make them feel that their feelings matter and that they are not "weak", as well as feeling comfortable talking about it. CALM used social media because it is used frequently nowadays, men may watch gaming videos on YouTube and they might see the CALM video as an advertisement on a video or it might be recommended after watching a typically "masculine" video . The target audience is predominantly male because the issue affects males, but there are other powerful influences in a male's life. Females also use YouTube, they could be influencers in a male's life and therefore they could see this video and inform males about it if they recognize the problem and want to make the male in their life recognize it too. Women in a male's life could be his mother, sisters, girlfriends or friends, who will be important people to the male and therefore he will take their opinion into consideration. This will affect the change. The video is also interactive, it has audio but the words that are spokenI'm on the screen. This makes men focus on the message of the video because they listen to it and read it. CALM uses statistics in the video to emphasize the point about struggling men. The idea of ​​the campaign is that if more men communicate their problems, fewer men will commit suicide. The exchange in the campaign is for the male to talk about his feelings to CALM, and therefore fewer males will commit suicide. The statistics in the video are disturbing to read for a male, for example "of the 6109 people who committed suicide in the UK, 4623 were men". A male may read this statistic and think he wants to make a change. They might start thinking about their friends and family members who suffer from mental disorders and encourage them to speak out. They might think to themselves and realize that they should talk about their problems to break the stigma about men and mental health. These statistics sell the idea of ​​a better lifestyle to men which means having a life where they can talk about their problems regarding their mental health. The charity encourages men to talk about their mental health using helplines, online web chats and by subscribing to the magazine. be part of the charity and break the stigma around mental health. CALM offers its helpline and online chat every day from 5pm until midnight so men can segment this change in their life right now. It would be easy for the man to take ten minutes a day to talk to CALM, which would improve his mental health. Mass media Mass media includes advertising via television, radio, billboards, newspapers, and flyers. It is effective depending on where it is placed, for example if a radio advert came on in the morning about a mum relaxing, it would be effective because most mums would take their children to school and therefore it would be helpful in getting the message across. Posters are another example of mass media. They are mainly present in schools, universities, doctors' surgeries and hospitals. These posters need to be changed often to ensure that the public reads them and notices them. If posters have been hanging on a wall for a long time, a person may know they are there but won't know what they include because they aren't paying attention to them. Having the posters there for a short period of time means that people will notice when they are changed and therefore will be more effective. The posters' message is more likely to get through to the public if they remain on the wall for a short period of time because they will not go unnoticed as they would if they were there for a long period of time. Also the bright colors attract people's attention. A person is more likely to look at a brightly colored flyer while waiting for a doctor's appointment than a black and white flyer, simply because the black and white flyer looks dull. The CALM website uses bright colors to highlight details that will catch the reader's attention, such as phone numbers to call for help. Photographs are useful in campaigns. They are used in most campaigns to show the problems that can arise from failure to act. Photographs of unpleasant-looking body parts are used on cigarette packages to get people to quit smoking. The CALM site contains brightly colored photographs to attract the reader's attention. Photographs surrounding the concern from the CALM charity could trigger people to seek help. For example, if a person was looking at the website to talk to someone and saw a photograph of a man committing suicide or contemplatingsuicide, this could trigger the person to need help and contribute to their low mood. These photographs are not featured on the CALM website for this reason, they would not be appropriate for the charity's purpose. However, they use bright colors to grab their audience's attention and raise awareness of the suicide rate through text rather than photographs. The text is however effective because suicide is a very sensitive topic, the fact that male suicide is the biggest cause of death in the UK is quite effective, an image can make the situation worse for a person viewing the website. There is a deeper motivation for most men who contact CALM. These men may have issues they are facing that have prompted them to contact the charity. These men may feel like they want to die but no one wants to fight. Their motivation is that they can feel reassured knowing that CALM is a confidential and helpful support. Knowing that this is a confidential service means that these men will feel comfortable talking to people about CALM because they won't be judged by others for how they feel, and that they will be able to talk to someone who understands how they feel and will be able to support them. Their recent campaign used Love Island's Chris Hughes which was called '#Dontbottleitup'. This campaign aimed to encourage men to talk about their problems, especially to CALM because it is confidential so no one has to know that they are talking about their problems but it helps men to talk about what is bothering them. CALM used Chris Hughes because he is a young, attractive male, which makes him the person people aspire to be. He also suffers from anxiety himself, so he can talk about his first-hand experience to help others talk about theirs. It is effective to use famous people in mass media because they are people that the public aspires to be because of their status or appearance. Two-way communication Two-way communication is person-centered and makes them feel empowered. CALM offers a web chat where man and CALM staff exchange messages focused on man's mental health. This will make the male feel like he is being taken care of, making him feel worthy. They will feel empowered because the CALM person will ask questions and offer advice. However, they may not want to be honest about their feelings because of the stereotype that men are "gay" or "stupid" if they talk about their feelings. The aim of CALM is to break this stereotype and make the person feel comfortable, so it may take a while for the man to talk about his feelings to the CALM person because he doesn't want to be seen as a stereotype. A relationship can be built when using two-way communication because you can build trust every time two people talk to each other. But with CALM, different people may appear to answer the phone or be available in web chat, which may not be effective for the man because they are not building a relationship. The man might ask if he can talk to the person he last spoke to or ask when he works so he knows when to call or when to use web chat so that a relationship is created between the two people. A relationship is important in two-way communication because the male seeking help will open up to someone he knows he can trust rather than someone he has never spoken to before. However, building a relationship takes time and some people may want a quick solution to their problem, but this is not always the case, especially with psychological disorders. Some males might find it pleasant to be around peoplewho speak at CALM are different people each time, because if the male suffers from depression, for example, and does not find it pleasant to leave the house, he will enjoy talking to different people because they will not interact with many people anyway. The way CALM offers support is through two-way communication. It is effective because the male who is seeking help will feel like his problems will be kept with just one person, which is reassuring if he is embarrassed, which is very likely the case. They use helplines to call people who are suffering, they have a national helpline and a helpline in London. They have their own web chat and they also have a search tool for organizations that may be able to help with certain issues in certain areas, as well as nationally. Their support is effective and is provided through two-way communication. They will offer advice and ask the male questions about his feelings and thoughts. Behavioral Change Model of Health Beliefs The health belief model was developed in the 1950s in America by social psychologists who wanted to know why people did not get vaccinated when it was offered to them. A person's behavior is influenced by his susceptibility. If a man watches the CALM campaign video, he may realize that he is likely to be affected by it due to the statistics used such as "most suicides in the UK are men". This will make the male feel susceptible to the problem if he ever feels down or contemplates suicide. He is likely to be affected by the problem and therefore is likely to make a change, which is to communicate with CALM about his disorder. Another factor in the health belief model is the severity of the illness. Suicide is very serious and therefore a male's behavior will be affected by this fact. They will want to change their behavior and communicate with CALM to avoid suicide because it is a very serious problem. The benefits of taking action are the next factor in the health belief model. The benefits of communicating with CALM are that male suicide should decrease, solving such a serious cause of death. There is a huge benefit if more men talk to CALM because the stigma around men and mental health will be broken and fewer suicides will occur. The barrier to action is that men may feel embarrassed about their mental health due to the stigma surrounding it, and therefore may not want to talk to CALM about their disorder, making it worse. The male must be ready to act. They may feel ready after watching the campaign video, or they may think about it for a while and realize that they want to make a change. When they are ready to change their behavior, they can contact CALM using their helplines or their web chat. Their behavior will change once they are ready and the stigma around males and mental health will be broken, reducing the number of suicides in males. Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change The transtheoretical model was developed in 1982 by Prochaska and DiClemente with the goal of smoking cessation. The first phase of the model is precontemplation. This is the stage where the person does not consider any changes. This can happen when a male suffers from a mental health disorder but does not think it is a problem and does not consider change. CALM then moves the male into contemplation with its advertisement because the male will recognize his problem. For example, if the man sees a social media ad for CALM and asks questions like “do you ever feel down?” Or “have you ever thought about suicide?” So it's likely the malerecognize the problem and contemplate change. The male then prepares for the change after contemplating the idea. The next stage after preparation is action, where change is initiated. CALM puts the male into action by offering support via web chat and helplines available on their website. The male must continue to talk to people about CALM for almost a year until the disorder persists. Maintenance means that the male is actively making the change in order to overcome the disorder. After maintenance, the male relapses and is prone to suicide or self-harm or changes his behavior completely and his disorder would no longer be prominent. If the male relapses, he will have to repeat the entire cycle until he maintains his disorder, or he may never maintain it and will continue to go through the cycle. After relapse, the male will once again enter the pre-contemplation phase and begin the cycle. Socioeconomic Factors Education is a socioeconomic factor that can influence an individual's ability to change their behavior. If an individual is not educated, they may not know how to seek help. For example, if a man is illiterate, he will not be able to use the online chat provided by CALM. They would not be able to use the web chat because they could not tell CALM about their problem or read the advice that CALM suggests to guide them in recovery from their disorder. Web chat is an effective resource for people in pain, but it becomes ineffective when people can't read or write. The male may be embarrassed because he cannot read or write and most individuals in society can. 15% of adults in the UK are illiterate and this could be a problem for members of organizations such as CALM as it could make it difficult for them to understand illiterates. However, CALM has helplines that men can use so they don't have to struggle when communicating via web chat. Helplines are available for people who cannot use the Internet or who are ignorant and illiterate. CALM may have difficulty understanding male dialect if he is uneducated. An uneducated person is likely not to speak in a sophisticated manner and may have a dialect that he picked up from people in his community. CALM may have difficulty understanding this dialect and therefore there may be a breakdown in communication. If the male could read and write, he would feel comfortable communicating with others. Illiterate people will have difficulty communicating because they cannot reiterate their points in a conversation. A person with a high level of education will notice his problem and will be more likely to know how to change it. A highly educated male will know that there are online services to use if he needs them. They are more likely to change their behavior because they know there are services like CALM that can help them. While males with no or little education will have difficulty finding these services as they may not be aware of them or may not have money for a sufficient device to access the internet due to their low education means they have little income. CALM encourages men to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but they cannot do so if they are illiterate and uneducated. Employment is another socioeconomic factor. A person with an occupation considered high in society is more likely not to feel depressed due to their quality of life. They are likely to seek help if they are in difficulty because they will have devices that can be used to access the Internet. While an unemployed person is likely to be depressed because he has no money for.