Kristy A. Siegel, MPH, CHES and Richard T. Patton, MPH. Stempel School of Public Health, Florida International University, Viertes Haus 216, 11200 Southwest 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, 305-348-4903, pattonr@fiu.edu

At the Florida International University School of Public Health, MPH students enrolled in the Health Promotion Communication: Theory and Design course had the opportunity to integrate their theoretical knowledge with the realities of health promotion practice by designing an obesity campaign for the residents of Florida, as requested by the Florida Department of Health. Today, over 56% of the adults in Florida are either overweight or obese, and among young adults, the prevalence of obesity has increased 110% in 10 years. Some of the target populations selected for the campaign included pre-menopausal African American women, Latina college students, and teenage girls. Students were able to demonstrate Berlo’s Model of Communication by utilizing the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s eleven attributes of effective health communication. Contrary to modern obesity interventions that are based upon the medical model, students used the compensatory model of responsibility conflict to design their campaign. Work assignments consisted of a public service announcement, brochure, educational materials, press release, news article, video, website, and an oral presentation. The particular challenge in the assignments was to ensure the campaign was culturally-sensitive to the target population. Students, as part of putting theory into practice, tested the campaigns they developed to a focus group of their target population. An important lesson students learned from the focus groups was any obesity campaign must be free from anti-fat bias. Examples of the different obesity campaigns will be shown to those in attendance.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• List the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s eleven attributes of effective health communication as seen in Healthy People 2010;
• Describe the compensatory model of responsibility conflict; and
• Recognize culturally-sensitive and anti-fat bias-free obesity campaigns.

Keywords: Health Communications, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Handout (.ppt format, 7590.0 kb)