Health campaign channels: tradeoffs among reach,specificity, and impact

Stanford University's Five-City Multifactor Risk Reduction Project (FCP) was a 14-year trial of community-wide cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction through integrated programs of community organization and mass media health promotion. The project was launched in 1978 in 5 central California cities, including Monterey, Salinas, Modesto, and San Luis Obispo. TV public service announcements (PSAs), TV shows, booklets, printed tip sheets with brief health suggestions on 7 topics, and newspaper coverage were the types of mass media approaches used in the FCP. These strategies are compared with regard to reach, specificity, and impact for a 5-year study period from 1979/80. Reach is measured as the number of messages intervention community residents remembered, specificity was assessed by examining whether the campaign differentially reached people who were already knowledgeable and practicing cardiovascular disease risk reduction, and impact is defined as the amount of knowledge gained during the course of the campaign. Reach was highest for tip sheets, while specificity was highest for booklets followed by TV programs. Newspaper messages had the most impact, followed by booklets and TV PSAs, tip sheets, and TV programs. Communication channels varied according to reach, specificity, and impact, with each criterion being distinct. No channel was optimal for all 3 of the outcome measures.