KEY CONCEPTS
- Behavior Change As A Process - Not An Event
- Test Behaviors: Feasibility
- Make Sure Behaviors Can Be Performed
- Practicality, Appropriateness
- Identity - Your Soul
- Branding - Symbolism and Communications
- Image - Constellation of Impressions
- Positioning - Where You Live In Hearts And Minds
- Brain/Ladder
- Top Of Mind
- Dr. Linda Lloyd's Take Away Messages
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17 comments:
It was interesting to have a guest speaker with hands on experience of Formative Research. The most memorable point of the presentation for me has to be the example dealing with the feasibility of the health behavior for the target population—a picture is worth a thousand words. It was easy to tell the community to cover up their water reservoirs, yet it was unpractical for an elderly woman to climb a weak latter to tediously tie-up the plastic cover. Another interesting concept is the alteration of an existing behavior to make it a healthy behavior. So we encourage existing behavior with an added health conscience twist—what a brilliant idea. It was a very interesting presentation and pictures are great ways to get your ideas across—Thanks.
I am really grateful for yesterday's guest lecture for a number of reasons. For one, it was great to be able to hear about (and see!) the process of creating and refining a health communication campaign. It not only gave me ideas for how to create an effective campaign but it also made clear just how difficult the process can be. Finally, it was fantastic to learn about a great career that is focused on putting health change into action. So much of the examples we get throughout our graduate training relate to research. It was fantastic to learn about an alternative way to create social change, while putting our grad training to use. Thank you!
I found the guest lecture interesting and very practical in how she talked about the flaws in the system and embraced where they failed in order to improve the system. She could also understand that health professionals make the exact mistakes they tell others not to, but we keep on trying and improving. With every intervention it has to bee practical and appropriate, are you asking your population to do things they can not possibly do (such as endangerment of the older woman to tie her sheet covering her water reservoirs) are we also emphasizing the most effective methods to improve conditions, even if they are harder.... a balance must be made. I also enjoyed the activity of the ladder and top of the mind, where do health issues fall and how can we get our programs to be on the top of the mind.
Yesterday's guest speaker, Dr. Lloyd, was fantastic. She spoke in another class I had this semester, but with each lecture I took away something different. Yesterday, she said something that really spoke to me. She said that even when a population may or may not be your target, it is important to know why. I then thought about the campaign we're working on this semester. Our clients said that minority students were underrepresented at the SHS's Health Promotion Clinic. Our formative research showed that there wasn't any difference between minority and non-minority students. But, I couldn't really explain why this was the case when Sherry asked during our presentation. SHS reports that the number of minority students at SHS aren't representative of the population distribution. During break, Dr. Lloyd suggested reasons why students may not use SHS HP clinic in general. I wondered the same things as well. But, we'll have to do more formative research to find out. Therefore, Dr. Lloyd's points motivate me to dig deeper to explain the full rationale behind target groups selected and not. Thanks Dr. Lloyd. On another tip, the second half of class was interesting, too. I mean why do we call facial tissues Kleenex? gelatin Jello? bandages Band-Aids? and, petroleum jelly Vasoline? It's because of branding and positioning. We've set the brands in our mind and we've also positioned them at the top of the ladder that they've surpassed "household name" status. They're now embedded in our culture. Imagine if we had the same power with health. Well, let's not imagine. I'm sure we all have it. It's just time for us to put it all out there. Good luck.
I too really enjoyed Dr. Lloyd’s lecture. It really resonated with my Peace Corps experience. The entire lecture, I was pretty much kicking myself for the ‘mistakes’ I made in my community. Of course I was doing the best I could at the time but I really wish I would have had the knowledge and foundation I have now. I would have done so many things so differently. I was definitely putting myself at the center not really considering what the community wants although that was the reason I was there. Although Peace Corps drills into you the idea of sustainability, I still jumped into my projects too quickly and definitely did not do my formative research. I made so many assumptions of what my community needed and did not take the time to ask what they wanted. I know what I was working on important topics (nutrition, hand washing) but was it what my community wanted. Were my ideas thought of as important by the community, were they presented in an appropriate manner, were they even possible? I am embarrassed to say but I don’t know, because I didn’t ask. So although I am totally kicking myself for what I should have done, I am happy it happened because if it hadn’t I would have anything to compare to and would not appreciate the importance of formative research.
On an entire different note, I really like the last part of Amanda’s blog. When I read the different products we know by brand names it helped put branding into perspective. They did something right, now we need to figure out how to use those marketing strategies and apply them to health topics.
I found the guest lecturer,Dr.Linda Lloyd, to be informative, insightful, and reflective. I appreciated how forthcoming she was about her own mistakes in health communication. The whole presentation really brought our discussion of formative research to full circle, especially with poster examples. Sitting there I just kept thinking how could these mistakes have been made, it seems so obvious to test the behavior, test the messages, and understand the problem. I guess its been ingrained in me enough that FR is a crucial part of health promotion. I am really grateful for Dr.Lloyd's presentation. Its always freshing hearing about someone's experience in the real world of public health along with the lessons they have learned.
On another note, I also found our discussion on needs versus wants to be insightful. The needle exchange example made me realize how tricky it can be phrasing and posing questions to people, especially when dealing with a sensitive topic. The key is to find a way to understand people's responses beyond the "yes", "no" answer, and hopefully find a happy medium between the two. This is a lesson and example I will definitely position high on my "top of mind ladder".
Dr. Lloyd's lecture was great and I took away a lot of useful, practical information that appears common sense when thinking of messages, but ofte we forget to think about the barriers of our target population. I liked her down to earth way of looking a problems realistically and out-of-the office attitudes to doing research. I especially enjoy talking to people, so formative research is somewhere I would like to go. Testing behaviors is also essential to generalize to a larger population. The second part of lecture on behavior change being a process was great also. There are so many aspects such social, political, economical, legal and spiritual issues to take into consideration. I especially valued designing messages based on determing the benefits, overcoming the barriers and changing behaviors for healthier lives--a powerful process. Really good pointers on easy messages being difficult to do. Determining the proper channels was interesting and learned some things-promotoras was a new concept but useful for certain cultures. Great points on funding projects and what limitation there are in the real world.
It's amazing how much we take for granted branding symbolism and that it is soo much a part of our lives we very take for granted. These symbols stay with us--at least personally I name brand daily when making choices. The ID of the company is also a keeper. ID and values are intertwined. Definitely will try to watch Reefer Madness. Need to remember that needs assessment is critical. Marketing myopia is a reality. Benefits of change are really important.
Our guest speaker Dr. Lloyd definitely was very enlightening in presenting how formative research was put into action. The posters were an effective way of showing how communication can best reach target audience. Of course, in that particular poster one could still understand what the message is without knowing how to read and understand another language. In addition, Dr. Lloyd was very encouraging and made the process of creating an effective campaign even more interesting. The topic of identity building, branding, image, and positioning was very informative and made me realize how all of this plays such a tremendous role in our lives. I totally agree with what Amanda is saying towards the end of her comment about branding and how we set these brands and position them in our mind. It would be very nice if we could do the same with health related issues. Oh and I look forward to watching the movie “Reefer Madness”!
Dr. Lloyd's presentation was really helpful! One can never have enough examples of how formative research is applied in the real world and also it is always wonderful to hear from people who are actually practicing what we are learning in our program! I only wish I could have seen more examples of the wonderful work she's done in the field...
On another note, the lecture on brand identity took me back to my former life as an ExxonMobil Technical Sales Rep. When Exxon and Mobil merged, all of us marketers were trained and retrained on the mission of the newly joined companies and our new brand positioning (how we would continue to differentiate between the two formerly competing brands that were now being offered by the same company)... I hope my previous experience with building and reinforcing brand identity will now help me to create and deliver HEALTH messages that will resonate with the public and be at the top of their recall ladder!
I too enjoyed the lecture by Dr. Lloyd. It was great to see 'real-world' examples of the various concepts that we have been talking about in class this semester, and how these concepts are actually implemented.
And piggy-backing off Lisa's comments, since starting this MPH program I don't know how many times I have said to myself, 'Wow, if only I had known that during Peace Corps...' While I had a fabulous experience and don't regret a single second of it, I definitely feel that I got way more out of my community than they got from me. I, like Lisa, was there to teach about health and I definitely did that. Although some of the projects that I worked on were ones that are considered standard for all health volunteers where I was...parasite prevention, dental hygiene, etc. While these may have been at the top of my priority list, they may not have been at the top of the community's priority list. I did learn lessons over my time in Peace Corps...towards the end of my service I was finally understanding more about what the community's REAL needs and wants were and I am glad that I was also able to work on projects that did come straight from the community. Unfortunately it took a while to learn that, without prior training. But it is all a learning process and provides me with more experiences to draw from and combine with the classroom experience I am gaining now and the lessons I'll learn from in the future, hopefully all making me a better public health professional.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Tuesday's lecture. I am planning on doing some extra reading though as it sounds like from other comments that I missed an interesting lecture on the application of formative research and real world examples. In reading Engelberg's articles on brand identity and identity building, I was amazed at how much thought and research goes into proactively planning an identity for an organization. I liked the strategy of writing down the mission statement and then replacing the name of your organization with a different one and comparing the similarities and differences. Sounds like the key is to be as unique as possible to distinguish a valuable market niche to fill. So much strategy is involved with developing an identity since a lot of it deals with the audience and stakeholders' perceptions. Once again, I am seeing the great value in formative research as one needs to conduct identity research to best fit the brand and identity with the mission statement.
This week guest speaker helped tie everything we have learned thus far together and how it can be applied to the real world. Linda Lloyd’s examples about the water campaign made me see who and how much of a difference formative research has in understanding your target audience and the target behavior, in particular the environmental factors. It may seem relatively easy to say cover your water tank but it may be more difficult to do. I recently saw a commercial on meth prevention. It appears that the target audience for this commercial is gay males who use meth and may be HIV+. They even have a branding name, ‘Me not meth’, which is also the name of the website to get more information. This commercial is sponsored by the California Methamphetamine Initiative, and developed by the Department of Alcohol and Drug programs. With this being the only commercial out there talking about such a controversial subject, the project is able to position itself at the top of people’s minds who are concerned about this issue. It seems like the target behavior is to reduce or prevent meth use in gay young men, but how feasible is it for someone who is addicted to the drug to quit. I wonder how much formative research went tin developing this campaign. Check out the website to see the video and campaign posters. http://www.menotmeth.org/en/campaign/tv
Our guest speaker made formative research seem really fun. You have to be extremely creative and analyze everything when trying to change a behavior. Some people are very motivated and willing to change, but there are just certain things out there that make it difficult for people to change. For example, if people want to lose weight, they should stop eating fast foods. But, it's hard when fast food is so much cheaper and easier to get than cooking your own food. In order for people to change a behavior we also need to look at the environment that they live in. How hard or easy does the environment facilitate the behavior?
I would love to go into international health just as Dr. L was discussing. She was a dynamic speaker and very down to earth and I hope to someday follow in her foot step. Makes me realize how much I take for granted. Amanda made a very good point on her comment on branding. Just as children are likely to recognize Ronald McDonald or Santa or the Easter Bunny and able to identify the “golden arches.”
My favorite part of the lecture and class was the topic of identity as the soul of a company or organization. It made me think of the logo of a non-profit that I used to work for, it was a woman dressed in traditional native clothing form a Central American country. The woman was carrying a baby walking through some sort of valley and in the background you could see a Central America map. I always felt like the logo represented the soul of our org. and it did. The org was started by a group of Salvadoran exiles. However, we served the whole population and clients would tell us that they always believed they were excluded if not from CA. This is where positioning would have come in handy.
For Dr Lloyd Keep telling the stories The area where you told us about going out and discovering that there was 35% of the tanks not being covered and the assessment process that led to the "have to get up there"problem. Thats what drives it home Do your formative but assess and assess again as to why it is working or not. Good stuff thx doc.
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