Design of an obesity prevention communication campaign targeted to Mexican high-school students

INTRODUCTION. Obesity is major public health problem worldwide. In Mexico, one out of three adolescents are overweight or obese, representing 5.7 million. Well-designed health promotion campaigns help in changing behaviors to prevent obesity. OBJECTIVE. To identify key design and content preferences of high-school Hispanic students for designing a school-based obesity-prevention communication campaign. METHODS. The study was conducted in 20 public high-schools located in Mexico City. A representative sample of 426 students aged 15 to 20 years old was selected. A health communication survey was performed having as inquiry topics: use of mass media for acquiring health information, preferred content/design features of health education materials, school areas for health promotion, and innovative slogans about nutrition/physical activity. RESULTS. Most students wanted to receive health information through the Internet (31%) and printed materials (49%), although 43% reported discarding printed materials after reading them. The classroom (33%), sport areas (30%), and the school cafeteria (24%) were preferred for health promotion. Main proposed topics were diet and exercising (44%), delivered as practical tips (27%), and real-life testimonies (13%). Green (41%) and yellow (23%) colors were associated with a healthy diet and the blue with physical activity (50%). Half of the students preferred more images than text; 38% liked realistic and comic images. CONCLUSIONS. Communication campaigns targeted to Hispanic youth would include Internet and printed materials with high proportion of colored images and short culturally-sensitive messages. This study helped to develop an obesity-prevention communication campaign targeted to adolescents by the Mexican government.