229419 What's my motivation?: Segmenting 18-30 year old women for unintended pregnancy prevention

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 12:45 PM - 1:00 PM

Shelly Campo, PhD , Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA
Natoshia M. Askelson, MPH, PhD , Department of Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Knute Carter, MS , Public Policy Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Mary E. Losch, PhD , Center for Social & Behavioral Research, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA
This study illustrates how cluster analysis was used to segment an audience for a campaign to prevent unintended pregnancies in 18—30 year old women. About half of all are unintended, but few interventions have been designed to encourage young adult women to use contraceptives consistently and appropriately. Part of the challenge may reside in the heterogeneity of the group's perceptions. This diverse audience can be divided into segments that make it possible for the tailoring and targeting of specific messages. Previous research indicated that threat, efficacy, and fear were important factors in influencing intentions to use contraceptives; therefore, the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) was used for this cluster analysis. A telephone survey of 18-30 year old women was conducted. The analysis included only the women who reported having had sexual intercourse and were not trying to become pregnant (N= 401). The constructs of EPPM and age were used for conducting a K-means cluster analysis with 4 clusters. Group one (27.8%) was categorized by high levels of susceptibility, but very low levels of fear. Group two (23.8%) had high levels of efficacy and higher levels of fear. The third group (34.7%) was not fearful of pregnancy and had low levels of susceptibility. The final group (13.8%) was younger than the other groups and had the lowest levels of efficacy. The presentation will examine the clusters and illustrate how campaign messages can be tailored to meet the needs of each cluster.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how to segment an audience based on a theory. 2. Demonstrate the importance of segmenting an audience for a health communication campaign.

Keywords: Social Marketing, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted the analysis.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.