The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #62780

Melissa Kraus Taylor, MA, Vice President/Social Marketing, Porter Novelli, 3348 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30326, 404-995-4507, mtaylor@porternovelli.com

When faced with designing a health communication campaign that can cut through the cluttered communication environment, a communicator’s first communication objective is often to increase the target audience’s perceptions of their risk. However, unlike topics such as heart disease, lung cancer, or osteoporosis, communicating about DES requires a different model. Among this population, however, many do not know they were exposed. This presentation will explore how CDC used audience research and risk communication principles to develop a campaign that increases awareness of DES and the conditions surrounding exposure, without opening a Pandora’s box of undue alarm and uncertainty. We began with a careful segmentation of our audience to identify the audience both at risk and more likely to attend to health messages. This audience was defined as “women in times of transition” and comprises women who are seeking information about reproductive health, fertility, breast and cervical cancers, and/or hormone replacement therapy due to the fact that they are in transition stages in their lives, i.e., ready to start a family, at the age to begin mammography screening, or entering menopause. To reach the intended audience, CDC focused on developing partnerships with health and consumer organizations that reach these women on a regular basis. By providing information that is relevant to the intended audience through channels they know and trust, CDC is able to provide facts about DES that are helpful without being alarming within the context of issues that are already important to the intended audience.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to:
• Construct effective risk communication messages and
• Apply risk communication messages within trusted communication vechicles that already reach the intended audience.

Keywords: Health Communications, Women's Health

Related Web page: www.cdc/gov/DES

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Contractor