257838 Leveraging the power of Monday to promote men's sexual health

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM

Morgan Johnson, MPH , The Monday Campaigns, New York, NY
In recent years, the number of text and email-based health campaigns has skyrocketed, largely due to the cost-effectiveness and ease of use of such technologies. Text-based sexual health programs are starting to see evidence of success in preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies. While evaluating outcomes is of course critical for any public health initiative, practitioners could potentially increase program impact by answering the following process-related questions: 1) How often should we be sending communications to program participants? and 2) When is the ideal window of time to be delivering these messages? These questions regarding “dosage” have yet to be adequately answered by the scientific community. However, current evidence suggests that weekly messages may be an ideal frequency to motivate people to start and maintain healthy sexual behaviors, and Monday may be the best day for such messages to be delivered. Several organizations have already taken advantage of the “Monday Effect” by promoting their sexual health programs on Mondays. The organizations include the Harlem Health Center in New York City, Planned Parenthood, and several universities around the US. The main goal of the promotion, called “Man Up Monday,” is to send a sex-positive message to young people that encourages them to go get tested for STDs and to restock their condom supplies every Monday. By leveraging the natural tendency to focus on health behaviors at the beginning of the week, these programs are able to boost participation levels and contribute to establishing a supportive social context for healthy behavior.

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

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain how indentifying recurring patterns in health behavior and health information-seeking behavior provides critical information for timing of sexual health campaigns. 2.Discuss ways in which program developers and researchers can assess their own data to identify and take advantage of patterns in sexual health. 3. Describe the development and success of the "Man Up Monday" campaign.

Keywords: Health Communications, Media Campaigns

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have managed a number of local and federally funded programs focused on health communication and health promotion at the local, state and federal levels.
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.