PUBH 6333 Week 11 Campaign Brief Example

Can He Say What We Asked? A Campaign Brief Asking a Composite County Health Commissioner to Approve a Riding Mower Child Safety Campaign, With Every Component Held to One Standard of Success

Student Name

Walden University

PUBH 6333: Health Communication in the 21st Century

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Can He Say What We Asked? A Campaign Brief Asking a Composite County Health Commissioner to Approve a Riding Mower Child Safety Campaign, With Every Component Held to One Standard of Success

Request

This brief asks the Pruett County Health Commissioner to approve a two-season campaign to reduce riding mower injuries to young children, at a first-season cost of $14,800 from the injury prevention budget. The campaign has one standard of success: drivers who look after small children can explain, in their own words, the three actions it asks of them. Every component below is held to that standard.

The Problem

Riding mowers seriously injure children every year. Emergency departments nationwide treated an average of about 9,400 people aged 20 and under for mower injuries each year from 1990 to 2004, and amputations made up nearly a third of injuries among those admitted (Vollman & Smith, 2006). A survey of families of seriously injured children found that most were bystanders rather than riders, that bystanders were most often struck by a reversing mower, that nearly all injured children were left with an amputation or permanent disability, and that about three quarters of injured bystanders had previously been given rides (Jennissen et al., 2023). The county's current message, "Keep kids safe around mowers," does not name these behaviors and, as early analysis showed, can be read as permitting lap rides.

Audience

The campaign speaks to the county's riding mower drivers on larger lots who look after preschool children most weeks, fathers and grandfathers alike. Families of injured children most often named a man at the wheel, and in close to half of incidents he was the child's own father or stepfather (Jennissen et al., 2023). Interviews with men in this group found four beliefs that block the current message: safety comes from control and experience, a child on the driver's lap is safe, rides are a family tradition, and injuries happen to careless people.

Message

Three actions, always in one order: nobody rides, the children stay indoors with a grown-up during mowing, and the driver checks behind before reversing. One reason travels with them: children who ride come running back when they hear the engine. The message was rewritten from clinical wording into everyday words and tested with 24 men in three rounds of cognitive interviews before printing.

Channels and Materials

The materials packet contains four pieces: a tag hung on the steering wheel by dealers after spring service, a counter card handed out by farm supply staff, a 30-second radio farm report spot read by the extension agent and a two-sentence text for relatives and partners. The channels were chosen because they reach the segment at moments when mowing is on their minds and through messengers they trust about machines. Social media plays a supporting role aimed at relatives.

Correction Plan

A rumor that the campaign brings fines and dealer reporting has already circulated. The correction relies on trusted messengers giving an alternative account in their own words, following evidence that alternative explanations work better than bare denials and that corrections from distrusted sources can backfire (Lewandowsky et al., 2012). The brief asks the commissioner to state publicly, if asked, that no ordinance or fine is planned.

Evaluation

Delivery counts will be reported but are not the measure of success. In late June, 120 short interviews at farm supply stores will ask men what the campaign asks them to do, with 40 comparison interviews in a neighboring county. The first summer counts as a success when half or more of the men interviewed recall at least two of the three actions unprompted. Campaigns of this kind usually produce modest behavior change (Snyder, 2007), so injury counts are tracked over several years rather than judged after one season.

Budget

Table 1

First-Season Budget

Note. Estimates for this composite county.

How Every Component Answers the Standard

The audience analysis chose the men whose understanding matters. The rewrite made understanding possible. The pretest checked that it happened before printing. The channels deliver the message through people the audience trusts, which makes understanding more likely. The correction plan protects understanding from a rumor that would replace it with resentment. The evaluation measures understanding directly. Each component exists because it moves men like Dale and Travis closer to being able to say what the campaign asks.

Second Season

If the first season meets its standard, the second season would keep the same three actions and materials, extend the dealer tags to the two dealers in the neighboring county that service many Pruett mowers, and add a short segment at the county fair's equipment tent where men already gather to compare machines. If the first season misses its standard, the second season would begin with a new round of interviews to learn which action men failed to understand and why, before any new printing. Either way, the second season would not add new messages; a campaign that changes its message every year asks its audience to start over.

Partners and Their Roles

The four dealers hang tags and brief customers. The two farm supply stores hand out cards and host evaluation interviews. The extension office records and reads the radio spot. The pediatric clinic adds a card to spring well-child packets and sends the relative text through its reminder system. The health department coordinates, pays for printing and airtime and runs the evaluation. Each partner has agreed in writing to its role for one season.

Risks

Dealers may stop handing out tags if the rumor grows; the correction plan and regular contact with dealers address this. The radio station may change its schedule; the spot will also run on the cooperative's members' line. Evaluation interviews at stores miss men who shop elsewhere, a limit the report will state.

Recommendation

Approve the first season at $14,800, with a decision on the second season after the July evaluation report.

References

Jennissen, C. A., Krupp, T. D., Vakkalanka, J. P., & Hoogerwerf, P. J. (2023). Pediatric lawn mower-related injuries and contributing factors for bystander injuries. Injury Epidemiology, 10(Suppl. 1), Article 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-023-00468-z

Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012). Misinformation and its correction: Continued influence and successful debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(3), 106-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612451018

Snyder, L. B. (2007). Health communication campaigns and their impact on behavior. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 39(2 Suppl.), S32-S40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2006.09.004

Vollman, D., & Smith, G. A. (2006). Epidemiology of lawn mower-related injuries to children in the United States, 1990-2004. Pediatrics, 118(2), e273-e278. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-0056