Copyright (c) 2008 Edith Cowan University All rights reserved. http://ro.ecu.edu.au Recent documents in Research Online @ ECU en-us Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:57:30 PDT 3600 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/7 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/7 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:06:32 PDT Many social marketing campaigns use threat (or fear) appeals to promote healthy behaviours, for example, 'Quit smoking. You'll soon stop dying for a cigarette', 'Slip! Slop! Slap! Don't die in the sun this summer', and 'Speed kills'. These messages appeal to the negative motivation of problem avoidance and use fear arousal to persuade. This study explored people's motivations for adopting healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviours. Overall, it appeared that four motivations (two negative and two positive) were particularly salient: a) Problem removal: managing illness and injury; b) Problem avoidance: avoiding illness, injury, premature death, harm to unborn baby; c) Self approval: feeling better about self; and d) Sensory gratification: mood elevation. The results suggest that, while problem avoidance is an appropriate motivation it is not the only one. Social marketing practitioners could use a range of other motivations that may be equally effective. In the same way that consumers assess marketing messages relating to goods and services, consumers of social marketing messages can choose to pay attention to the sorts of messages that work for them, and decide to disregard others that may be less helpful. Nadine Henley http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/6 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/6 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:06:29 PDT The paradigm of the self as it is conceptualised in Western society includes an implicit assumption that one of the primary activities of the self is to engage in protective behaviours. This is a basic assumption in mass media promotion of healthy behaviours: 'Quit smoking' to protect yourself from lung cancer; 'Work safe' to protect yourself from injury, etc. Mass media social marketing campaigns inform the general population of the dangers to the self's existence of smoking, drink-driving, unsafe sex, over-eating, under-exercising and so on. These campaigns are based on models such as the Health Belief Model (Janz and Becker), the Fear Drive paradigm (Janis; McGuire), the Parallel Response Model (Leventhal), Thayer's Arousal Model, Roger's Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers & Mewborn; Maddux & Rogers), Ordered Protection Motivation Theory (Tanner, Hunt and Eppright) and the Extended Parallel Process Model (Witte). Fundamental to all these models is the assumption that people are motivated to protect themselves from harm. Information is provided that warns of the severity and likelihood of consequences of unhealthy behaviours. In some cases this information does motivate people to give up harmful behaviours and adopt safer options. Nadine Henley http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/5 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/5 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:58:16 PDT This paper explores the effect on consumers of these mass media invocations of the fear of death, or "death threats'. Verbatim comments are included from six focus groups conducted on fear and health promotion. Groups were delineated by age (16-20 years, 21-29 years and 30-49 years), gender, and socio-economic status (blue collar/white collar) Nadine Henley http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/4 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/4 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:57:54 PDT Improved mental health in the population requires a long-term and holistic approach involving multiple sectors of the community not just mental health service providers. People in authority over others, that is, parents, teachers and employers, could provide a leverage point for a universal intervention to promote mental health in those in their care. A telephone survey of 1,000 metropolitan and 500 country male and female respondents was conducted in Western Australia. Four types of 'authority' persons were identified (parents, teachers, trainers and supervisors) and asked what they thought they could do, if anything, to ensure that those in their care remained mentally healthy. Responses were coded into dominant themes across the four types of respondents, the most common being: providing stimulation; providing positive reinforcement; good communication; recognising and dealing with problems openly and sympathetically; ensuring physical activity; not overworking and providing adequate rest breaks; goal setting; not disparaging or being overcritical; and encouraging relationships with family and others. The results are discussed in terms of Hawkins and Catalano's concepts of participation, opportunity and recognition, and Warr's influences on mental health. The findings can be used to identify areas where salience can be increased through mental health promotion. Robert J. Donovan http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/3 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/3 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:57:50 PDT The National Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAGs) are the evidencebased recommendations on physical activity for all Australians. This study examines the attitudes of older people to the NPAGs with the aim of identifying communication objectives for social marketing practitioners when designing messages about physical activity specifically targeted at older people. Eight focus groups were conducted at the Positive Ageing Foundation's conference rooms in Perth, Western Australia, with between six and eight participants in each. None of the participants had previously seen the NPAGs but some of the content had filtered through in the media. Of most concern was that some participants felt that it was already too late for older people to become more physically active. Participants were receptive to a holistic approach including social interaction and mental stimulation for overall health and well-being, but males in particular were cynical towards the source of social marketing messages. The findings suggest that social marketers targeting older people with physical activity need to address three key communication objectives: 1) the benefits of 'incidental' physical activity; 2) that short bouts of moderate-intensity physical activity can be accumulated throughout the day to total the recommended thirty minutes; and 3) it's never too late to benefit from being more physically active. Nadine Henley http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/2 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/2 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:57:49 PDT This paper investigates the role of media, source and message credibility in the process of preventing/reducing drug use. An original contribution of the study is that this investigation was conducted with a sample segmented by level of marijuana use. The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of traditional mass media campaigns employed by Government agencies to reduce the use of illicit drugs. The following section provides a background to the development of anti-drug campaigns in Australia, and in particular, anti-marijuana campaigns. Fiona Perman http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/1 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/smatl_pubs/1 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:36:07 PDT Should individuals be free to make lifestyle decisions (such as what, when and how much to eat and how much physical activity to take), without undue interference from the state, even when their decisions may lead to negative consequences (obesity, heart disease, diabetes)? Nadine Henley http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/365 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/365 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:56:16 PDT Susan Ash http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/364 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/364 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:56:13 PDT Geoff Lowe http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/362 http://ro.ecu.edu.au/rqf_submissionsfedrt/362 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:17:21 PST Elizabeth Stamopoulos