Reaching Specific PopulationsUsing Media and Social Marketing

Linda BlockReba Griffith

Perry StevensNisha Gupta

Office on Smoking and HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

National Conference on Tobacco or HealthSan Francisco, California

November 21, 2002

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Agenda

• Overview of Reaching Specific Populations Using Media (Linda Block)

• Hispanic Families Case Study (Reba Griffith)• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT)

Populations Case Study (Perry Stevens)• Young Adult Case Study (Nisha Gupta )

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Introductions

• Who we are

• Who you are

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Defining Specific Populations

• Groups of individuals who share unique characteristics and may be particularly affected by tobacco

• Specific populations have traditionally been defined by cultural and/or demographic characteristics• racial/ethnic groups• rural residents• low socioeconomic groups• people with certain religious affiliations

• Not all specific populations are cultural groups• persons with disabilities• college students• restaurant workers• LGBT populations

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Four Steps for Reaching Specific Populations through Counter-Marketing

Step 1: Develop Cultural Competence

Step 2: Understand Specific Populations

Step 3: Conduct Formative Research

Step 4: Develop, Implement and Evaluate the Campaign

Remember: when developing any media campaign, work through stages and involve members of the target audiences at each stage

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• Cultural competence = organizational and philosophical commitment to understanding specific populations• Recognition of differences and similarities within, among and

between groups, including history, culture, context, geography, etc.

• Assess internal cultural competence within organization:• values and attitudes• communication style• community/consumer representation• physical environment

• materials and resources• policies and procedures• training• professional development

Step 1: Develop Cultural Competence

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Culturally Competent Organizations

• Provide cultural sensitivity training to program staff • Employ staff who speak other languages, if appropriate• Make no assumptions about a specific population’s culture• Use existing data sources (lit reviews, surveys) and formative

research (key informant interviews, focus groups, community assessments) to understand the target audience

• Develop and pretest concepts, messages and materials with each audience

• Involve members of the specific population in planning

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• Document current diversity within the state• specific populations in the state• recent immigration patterns• languages spoken

• Look at existing data:• census data• public health department reports• public school data• media outlets• research findings• surveillance data

• Data not readily available for all audiences (e.g., LGBT, people with disabilities)

• program evaluations• national organizations• immigrant assistance/

resettlement programs• language institutes

Step 2: Understand Specific Populations

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Conduct an Environmental Scan

• What other local or national organizations are doing in your state and what specific populations they are targeting

• Community resources available to specific populations

• Learnings from other states with similar populations

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Determine Priorities

• Determine priorities and direct decisions based on data about specific populations in your state and environmental scan

• Use epidemiological data on health disparities to help determine priorities• High smoking rates among LGBT• High smoking rates among people with disabilities• Rising smoking rates among African American youth

• May not be able to reach all audiences, especially with limited budget• need to prioritize, perhaps adding additional audiences in future

• To be most effective, coordinate with mainstream campaign

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Develop Audience Profiles

• Describe the target audience(s)• Based on relevant, unbiased, data-driven characteristics, including how the group is

described by itself• Include tobacco-related social norms, beliefs, needs, media/consumer habits,

lifestyle characteristics, level of acculturation, cultural preferences, urban/rural, etc.

• Acknowledge diversity within populations• Regional and cultural differences based on country of origin• Level of acculturation among immigrants• Place of residence (urban versus rural)

• Purpose is to understand the audience to guide choice of messages, channels, activities, tone, other executional elements, etc.

• May have to conduct supplemental research

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Step 3: Conduct Formative Research

• Goals of formative research:• to understand the causes/determinants of health risk behaviors,

as well as protective factors• to identify what interventions (messages, communication

channels, etc.) might influence them to change their behavior• to gain insights into attitudes and behaviors that influence

tobacco use

• Qualitative research is useful for developing messages and materials, but cannot be generalized to whole population

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Involve the Target Audience

• Involve credible representatives of the target audience in planning the research• improve the quality of the research (both formative and outcome)• gain support and buy-in of the audience• avoid conflicts of interest

• Make sure the target audience and important sub-groups are included in the research

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Potential Audience Barriers

• Identify and address potential audience barriers• Resistance to targeting, racial profiling, scientific exploitation,

distrust of unknown organizations• Be open and responsive to questions and concerns

• Examples of potential audience barriers:• Distrust of government research among African Americans

because of the Tuskegee Project in which treatment for syphilis was withheld from African American men

• Reluctance to go to unknown facilities among Hispanics/Latinos because of fear of being turned in to the INS

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Step 4: Develop, Implement and Evaluate the Campaign

• Follow same general process as with any counter-marketing campaign• Determine goals, strategies, messages, tactics, evaluation plan, etc.

• Remember to use appropriate language and materials• Can’t just translate English materials into other languages• Pretest all materials

• Involve members of the population in the development and implementation process• Work with partners organizations that serve the specific population

– (e.g., professional and fraternal organizations; Hispanic, Asian, African American or Native American chambers of commerce; professional organizations; publishers of niche newspapers or magazines)

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For more information or to order publications, contact the Office on Smoking and Health

Office on Smoking and HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

Publications Catalog, Mail Stop K-50 4770 Buford Highway, NE

Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

www.cdc.gov/tobacco1-800-CDC-1311

770-488-5705tobaccoinfo@cdc.gov

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My Contact Information

Linda A. Block(770) 488-5476

LBlock@cdc.gov