271906 Be well women preconception health initiative

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 12:34 PM - 12:38 PM

Flojaune Griffin, PhD, MPH , Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, Sacramento, CA
Reggie Caldwell, LCSW , Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA
Sangi Rajbhandari, MPH , Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, Sacramento, CA
Kiko Malin, MPH, MSW , Maternal, Paternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MPCAH), Alameda County Public Health Department, Oakland, CA
Background: Black women in California are four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes and black infants are twice as likely to die before their first birthdays compared with all other racial groups. Concern about these troubling and persistent racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes has focused increasing attention on the importance of preconception health among black women. With funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the California Department of Public Health Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Division (CDPH-MCAH) engaged in a social media campaign, including video vignettes as a central component, to build awareness of the importance of preconception health among black women in California.

Media Development: To explore opinions and perceptions about preconception health among black women of reproductive age, CDPH-MCAH contracted with McKinney and Associates to conduct key informant interviews, online polling, focus groups, media monitoring, and a communications audit. Based on the results, the concept of “BeWellWomen” was developed to emphasize key components to good health (“Be Informed. Be Connected. Be Inspired.”) and promote empowerment among black women to make health and wellness a priority. The results also emphasized the importance of campaign promotional materials that captured the ideas, opinions, and images of “real” black women, not actors. The campaign centerpiece was the BeWellWomen.org website, which featured targeted health information and links to community resources, including the CDPH-MCAH statewide Black Infant Health Program which serves pregnant and parenting black women, along with the campaign videos. Social marketing promoted the campaign via social networks including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Outcome: Consulting with black women of reproductive age about their attitudes concerning and understanding of preconception health was a key step in developing a media campaign that provided preconception targeted health information to an estimated 30,000 black women in California.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Discuss how focus groups in California were used to develop a preconception health campaign targeted at black women of reproductive age Demonstrate the importance of developing relevant media for target populations of interest Describe how the video vignettes were used to increase public awareness of the core content of the campaign

Keywords: African American, Social Marketing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I, and members of the preconception health initiative on my team, worked with the media firm that conducted the focus groups and created the materials and provided technical assistance and intellectual support in the development of the Be Well Women campaign and media presented herein.
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.

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