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Abstract #152578

Sofía Segura-Pérez, MS, RD¹, Grace Damio, MS¹, Gilma Galdamez, BS¹, Amber Hromi-Fielder², and Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD². (1) Hispanic Health Council, 175 Main St., Hartford, CT 06106, 860-527-0856, sofias@hispanichealth.com, (2) Nutrition and Connecticut NIH EXPORT Center of Excellence for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos, University of Connecticut, 3624 Horsebarn Hill Rd., Storrs, CT 06269

We conducted 250 interviews in Hartford to assess the impact of a culturally sensitive social marketing campaign seeking to increase participation in the Food Stamp Program. Respondents' demographic characteristics included: average age 39 y old, 75% female, and 87% Latinos (half of which were Puerto Rican). The campaign included: i)English and Spanish public service announcements (PSAs) in local radio stations, ii) one queen size bus ad (n=10 buses), iii) a large banner hung outside the Hispanic Health Council building, and iv)bilingual flyers and posters distributed in supermarkets, bodegas, WIC offices, and other community locations. An evaluation survey indicated that over 78% of respondents reported being exposed to at least one campaign item. Almost 60% saw the bus ad, followed by banner (24.5%), Spanish radio PSA (22.6%), flyers (15.4%), and English radio PSA (10.5%). Among those reporting exposure to the campaign, 85% to 95% reported that the campaign items were easy to understand, and 70% to 80% were very satisfied with them. Respondents felt that the Spanish radio PSA, the banner and the bus ad were the most helpful. There was a significant (p<0.05) dose-response relationship between the number of exposures to the social marketing campaign materials and the proportion of participants that applied for food stamps, ranging from 10.7% among those exposed to one item to 34.4% among those exposed to three campaign items. In conclusion, the social marketing campaign was successful at improving awareness about and at promoting likely eligible individuals to apply to the Food Stamp Program, particularly among those exposed to multiple media channels. Funded by USDA-FNS.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.To learn how to develop and implement a culturally appropriate social marketing campaign.
• 2.To learn how to conduct a process and outcome evaluation of a Food Stamp Program social marketing campaign.
• 3.To learn how a community agency can increase its community outreach efforts through social marketing.

Keywords: Food Security, Ethnic Minorities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.