Cassandra Olier

Assignment 4
April 25, 2019
H&S 490
Effective Health Education and Communication

1. Assess the Health Education Materials- 30 pts.

Written health education piece link:
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/all-publications-and-resources/healthy-heart-healthy-fami
ly-keep-beat-aim-healthy
Audio-visual health education piece link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DloJanE-OQ&list=PL5FFE0A96FE03C73C&index=6&t=0s
a. Score the written health education piece for ​understandability​, discuss results, what
is good, what would make it better?
For the written health education piece, I scored it for understandability according to the
Patient Education Materials Assessment. For the understandability of this print health education
material, it scored very well - 88%. Out of 17 points, it scored 15. This piece does a great job at
making the booklet easy to follow by the use of headings, easy to follow numbering, and the use
effective bullet points. This piece also does a great job at making it easy to apply to one’s own
life. It does this by providing a form of case study, following Lola and her responses to each
section. This piece makes the purpose very clear and also uses pictures to provide examples
for physical activity, healthy foods, healthy eating behaviors, etc. throughout the booklet.
Where this written health education booklet missed the two points were in the items “The
material provides a summary” and “The material uses visual aids whenever they could make
content more easily understood (e.g., illustration of healthy portion size)”. The booklet does not
summarize what the entire booklet holds at the beginning. I believe adding this aspect to the
booklet, whether it be a paragraph or in the form of a table of contents, would make navigating
the booklet easier. Making the navigation of the booklet easier would then increase
understandability. The second point that was missed was because the visual aids did not make
the content easier to understand. Although they did reinforce the content being given, they did
not make any aspect easier to understand.

Item # Item Response Options Rating

1 The material makes Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

its purpose
completely evident.

2 The material does not Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

include information or
content that distracts
from its purpose.

3 The material uses Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

common, everyday
language.
4 Medical terms are Disagree=0, Agree=1 1
used only to
familiarize audience
with the terms. When
used, medical terms
are defined.

5 The material uses the Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

active voice.

6 Numbers appearing Disagree=0, 1

in the material are Agree=1, No
clear and easy to numbers=N/A
understand.

7 The material does not Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

expect the user to
perform calculations

8 The material breaks Disagree=0, 1

or “chunks” Agree=1, Very short
information into short material* =N/A
sections.

9 The material’s Disagree=0, 1

sections have Agree=1, Very short
informative headers. material* =N/A

10 The material presents Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

information in a
logical sequence.

11 The material provides Disagree=0, 0

a summary. Agree=1, Very short
material* =N/A

12 The material uses Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

visual cues (e.g., Video=N/A
arrows, boxes,
bullets, bold, larger
font, highlighting) to
draw attention to key
points.

15 The material uses Disagree=0, Agree=1 0

visual aids whenever
they could make
content more easily
 understood (e.g.,
illustration of healthy
portion size).

16 The material’s visual Disagree=0, 1

aids reinforce rather Agree=1, No visual
than distract from the aids=N/A
content.

17 The material’s visual Disagree=0, 1

aids have clear titles Agree=1, No visual
or captions. aids=N/A

18 The material uses Disagree=0, 1

illustrations and Agree=1, No visual
photographs that are aids=N/A
clear and uncluttered.

19 The material uses Disagree=0, 1

simple tables with Agree=1, No
short and clear row tables=N/A
and column
headings.
Points Possible: 17
Points Earned: 15
Understandability Score: 88%

b. Score the written health education piece for ​actionabilty​, discuss results, what
would make it better?
For the written health education piece, I scored it for actionability according to the Patient
Education Materials Assessment. This booklet scored very well for actionability - 100%. It
earned 6 of the 6 point applicable to this piece. There were no calculations needed in this
booklet, so the total 7 points were not obtainable. Throughout the entire booklet there are calls
to action, from finding your BMI and determining if it is healthy or not to steps to try to lose
weight. All calls to action were written actively and to directly address the audience. There are
charts and fill in the blank areas for the audience to be directly involved in taking control of their
health. Although this scored 100%, there is something that could improve this source. Towards
the end of the booket, it compares two nutrition labels. When introducing such a complicated
topic, I believe it is important to include an explanation on how to properly read nutrition labels -
or save nutrition label reading for another pamphlet or handout.

Item # Item Response Options Rating

20 The material clearly Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

identifies at least one
 action the user can
take.

21 The material Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

addresses the user
directly when
describing actions.

22 The material breaks Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

down any action into
manageable, explicit
steps.

23 The material provides Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

a tangible tool (e.g.,
menu planners,
checklists) whenever
it could help the user
take action.

24 The material provides Disagree=0, NA

simple instructions or Agree=1, No
examples of how to calculations=NA
perform calculations.

25 The material explains Disagree=0, 1

how to use the Agree=1, No charts,
charts, graphs, graphs, tables, or
tables, or diagrams to diagrams=N/A
take actions.

26 The material uses Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

visual aids whenever
they could make it
easier to act on the
instructions
Points Possible: 6
Points Earned: 6
Actionability Score: 100%

c. Score the audio visual piece for ​understandability​, discuss results, what is good,
what would make it better?
For the audio visual health education piece, I scored it for understandability according to
the Patient Education Materials Assessment. For understandability, this piece scored an 81%. It
earned 9 of the 11 points possible. This video does a very good job at using common language,
breaking information up in logical chunks, and effectively using informative headers. I believe
their use of personal testimonies is effective in this video as well. They allow the audience to
feel as if the proposed lifestyle changes are manageable and realistic, therefore, hopefully
increasing the audience’s self-efficacy.
This piece did not score as well as the written piece did. It missed 2 points in areas that I
believe to be crucial to distributing effective materials. The first point it missed is “Medical terms
are used only to familiarize audience with the terms. When used, medical terms are defined”
and “The material uses the active voice”. The medical terms used in this video do not have any
explanatory factors. The terms used might be though as as common knowledge, such as
diabetes and hypertension, but some may not know what these two conditions are. The use of
active voice allows for easier understanding of material presented, which this video does not
use.

Item # Item Response Options Rating

1 The material makes Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

its purpose
completely evident.

3 The material uses Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

common, everyday
language.

4 Medical terms are Disagree=0, Agree=1 0

used only to
familiarize audience
with the terms. When
used, medical terms
are defined.

5 The material uses the Disagree=0, Agree=1 0

active voice.

8 The material breaks Disagree=0, 1

or “chunks” Agree=1, Very short
information into short material* =N/A
sections.

9 The material’s Disagree=0, 1

sections have Agree=1, Very short
informative headers. material* =N/A

10 The material presents Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

information in a
logical sequence.

11 The material provides Disagree=0, 1

a summary. Agree=1, Very short
 material* =N/A

12 The material uses Disagree=0, NA

visual cues (e.g., Agree=1, Video=N/A
arrows, boxes,
bullets, bold, larger
font, highlighting) to
draw attention to key
points.

13 Text on the screen is Disagree=0, 1

easy to read. Agree=1, No text or
all text is
narrated=N/A

14 The material allows Disagree=0, 1

the user to hear the Agree=1, No
words clearly (e.g., narration=N/A
not too fast, not
garbled).

18 The material uses Disagree=0, 1

illustrations and Agree=1, No visual
photographs that are aids=N/A
clear and uncluttered.

19 The material uses Disagree=0, NA

simple tables with Agree=1, No
short and clear row tables=N/A
and column
headings.
Points Possible: 11
Points Earned: 9
Understandability Score: 81%

d. Score the audio visual piece for ​actionabilty,​ discuss results, what would make it
better?
For the audio visual health education piece, I scored it for actionability according to the
Patient Education Materials Assessment. For actionability, this video scored a 66%. It missed 1
of the 3 points applicable to this piece. There were no charts, graphs, tables, or diagrams
included, so that point was excluded from scoring. This video does a great job at clearly
identifying actions that the user can take and at breaking actions down to manageable steps. In
the video is talks about getting your recommended amount of physical activity but follows that
up with simple daily activities one can participate in such as walking for 15 minutes 3 times a
day. The point that was missed during scoring, was the point for “The material addresses the
user directly when describing actions”. This is important to do when calling to action, to make it
more personal and immediate. The way that many of the calls to action were stated in this video
did not allude to starting soon, or even YOU starting soon.

Item # Item Response Options Rating

20 The material clearly Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

identifies at least one
action the user can
take.

21 The material Disagree=0, Agree=1 0

addresses the user
directly when
describing actions.

22 The material breaks Disagree=0, Agree=1 1

down any action into
manageable, explicit
steps.

25 The material explains Disagree=0, NA

how to use the Agree=1, No charts,
charts, graphs, graphs, tables,
tables, or diagrams to diagrams=N/A
take actions.
Possible Points: 3
Points Earned: 2
Actionability Score: 66%

e. What are some of the most important health education concepts you learned
c​ompleting these ​assessments and in the health communication module?
The most important health education concept I have learned through completing these
assessments and in the health communication module is that the information needs to be
presented in a way that facilitates understanding and taking action. This can be done in a
multitude of ways, some of the most important being using simple language, presenting
information in a logical manner, and providing simple and realistic action steps. Using simple
language is very important because the audience has many options for getting information, and
if you want your source to be a viable option, the audience needs to be able to read and
comprehend what you are providing them. Presenting the information in a logical way is also
very important because it allows the audience to clearly follow along. If the information is out of
logically order, your purpose and message may be lost. Finally, providing simple and realistic
action steps is also very important. It is important because it allows the audience to know what
comes next, or at least where to receive more information. Making the action steps simple and
realistic will increase the audience’s chance of actually following the steps you recommend.
2. Press Release- 30 pts.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Cassandra Olier

PHONE: (702) 807-9417

DATE: April 22, 2019

HEADLINE: ​Get Healthy, Stay Happy

SUBHEAD: ​Mother-Daughter Program Coming to the Kroc Center

COEUR D’ ALENE, IDAHO - With Mother’s Day around the corner, what better way to
build a healthy relationship with your daughter than through getting healthy together?
We are excited to announce a new mother-daughter healthy physical activity program
coming to the Kroc Center at the end of this month! This new program, starting April
30th, is designed for daughters 10 - 15 years of age and mothers of all ages. Those
participating in this program will receive not only the satisfaction of practicing healthy
behaviors with your daughter, but much, much more! Come to the Kroc Center during
normal business hours, or give them a call, to find out if you qualify for this program,
and sign up!

Those participating in this program will receive:

● Free or discounted membership to the Kroc Center!

● Free meeting with one of the Kroc Center’s athletic trainers. In this meeting
they will create a specific work out plan that best fits both you and your
daughters’ needs!
● Free meeting with one of the Kroc Center’s personal trainers to set fun,
attainable mother-daughter fitness goals!
● Monthly meetings to review goals and track progress!

An excited program daughter said, “I cannot wait to spend more time with my mom,
away from all my brothers! What a good Mother’s Day gift right?” when asked how
she feels about the program starting on April 30th. The Kroc Center is located on the
corner of Golf Course Road and Ramsey. They are open from 5 am - 9 pm on
weekdays, 7 am - 9 pm on Saturdays, and 8 am - 6 pm on Sundays. For more
information call the Kroc Center at ​ (​ 208) 667-1865​. We hope to see you and your
daughters soon!
 ###
3. Target Audience Considerations - 20 pts.
When working with any target demographic it is important to keep in mind ther health
literacy and cultural considerations. This remains true for my target demographic, adolescent
females. The three main areas of health literacy and cultural considerations that are important
for delivering understandable and actionable communications to this demographic is numeracy,
civic literacy, and cultural competency. Adolescent females, ages 10 - 15, have not had the
experience and years of learning that those producing health communications have had. Most
have 10+ more years of experiences and education than this target audience, therefore more
opportunities to grow in numeracy, civic literacy, and cultural competence. When producing
health communications for this target audience, it is important to not use numbers, units, and/or
calculations that they are unfamiliar with. This audience may also become uninterested in the
material if it includes too many calculations or numbers with units they can not relate to. Another
component to keep in mind when producing health communications for this audience is civic
literacy. Many of these adolescents have not been required yet in school to find reliable
resources or received instruction on how to do so. With that being said, they may believe things
to be factual that are not that they have read from other resources. With that being said, I
believe it is important, with my topic specifically, to clear up any common misconceptions that
are popular beliefs at the time. They also many not know where or how to access health
information, so brining reliable and factual information to them via web-based platforms like
Facebook or Twitter would be very effective. Finally, the last component to keep in mind when
producing health communications that I will be discussing is the cultural competency of this
target audience. Before writing any health communications, it is important to assess you target
audience. Assessing for cultural competency should be included in this, and will give you an
understanding of where they are competency wise. With that information in mind, you can write
materials that are inclusive and does not single out any culture as superior/inferior as to not
exclude anyone from the information you are providing.
When working with adolescent females there are many cultural competency
considerations to take into account. One of them being their age. My target audience is females
ages 10-15, which limits the complexity you should use when writing health communications for
them. They may not relate to the things that young adults and adults do such as high school
graduation, applying for colleges, or living on their own. Therefore, it is important to keep in
mind the accomplishments that that age group has made and what is important in their current
lives. A second cultural competency consideration to take into account is their level of
education, as previously stated, you may have 10+ years of education that they have not
received. So, it is important to account for that in your writing in ways of using simple language,
simple graphs/diagrams, and things that aid in the readability of your material such as spacing,
bullet points, and numbering. Finally, a third cultural competency consideration to take into
account is their cultural norms. When writing health communications, it is important to write with
the understanding that many different people from many different cultures will read it. Along with
writing with that in mind, for my target audience, it is also important to keep in mind youth
culture. The more you can connect with them in a way that speaks to their youthfulness, the
more effective your materials will be.
One article that I found discussing the effectiveness of reaching adolescents via
web-based platforms is a recent study by Bu Kyung Park and Christina Calamaro (2013). This
article is a systematic review of 17 different research studies and articles. In this review, Park
and Calamaro (2013) found that using Social Networking Sites (SNS) to reach adolescents and
young adults was effective because of four main aspects. First, it was easy to access for youth.
Secondly, it was cost-effective for participation recruitment. Third, it was easy for youth to follow
the interventions. Finally, SNS is a reliable screening venue of mental status and high-risk
behaviors. Topics of the studies in this review ranged from sexual-health to physical activity and
nutrition.
I believe this systematic review does a good job at pointing out exactly what is effective
for today’s adolescents when reaching them through SNS. In the age of technology, I believe it
is vital to bring health promotion to adolescents through web-based platforms. One of the most
used web-based platforms is SNS such as Facebook and Twitter. I also believe that it is
necessary to bring your proposed intervention/program to wherever your target demographic
already is. With my target demographic being adolescent females, they spend a majority of their
time either in home or at school. With that being said, most of them own devices that have
access to SNS whether that be a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. Utilizing these facts and bringing
your intervention/program to the internet means you are bringing your intervention/program to
them whenever and wherever they are. This plays into the first aspect of effectiveness
discussed by Park and Calamaro (2013), that SNS are easy to access for youth. The second
aspect of effectiveness is beneficial for both the participants and the researchers (Park &
Calamaro, 2013). Making reaching the target demographic cheaper and easier for the
researcher, makes it so they can afford to reach a larger population size and/or fund different
aspects of a multicomponent intervention/program. Arguably the most important effectiveness
component is that these web-based approaches are easy for youth to follow (Park & Calamaro,
2013). This would increase retention and compliance. Hopefully, this would also allow for better
compliance into adulthood. Finally, using these web-based platforms as an effective way to spot
high-risk behaviors and screen mental health of the users (Park & Calamaro, 2013). This is very
important especially for this demographic. When implementing interventions/programs it is very
important to focus on changing behaviors for lifelong success and the final outcome equally, if
not focusing on changing the behaviors even more.

4. Social Media Strategies and Campaigns - 20 pts.

When it comes to sharing health information/communications with my target audience
via social/electronic media sources, 10-15 year old females who have obesity, there are many
options. The two that I believe would be effective ways of sharing information is through
Youtube (​https://www.youtube.com/​) and mobile technologies, specifically apps. YouTube is a
video sharing website that allows users to make and upload video/audio content. This platform
is used by different health agencies including the CDC to disseminate accurate health
information. I would use this platform to spread awareness of what obesity is and the health
consequences associated with it, targeting adolescents. They may not know what obesity is or
how it does affect their lifelong health status. After releasing videos on that, I would release
videos with research based health behavior change recommendations to help keep their BMI at
a healthy level, or lower high BMIs. They would be focused on healthy eating behaviors and
healthy foods, fun physical activities, fun alternatives to screen time such as swimming or
sports, and tips for getting adequate sleep. This is also a great tool to spread the word on
events, programs, and interventions that relate to adolescent female obesity.
Apps are a relatively new way to disseminate health information. With the major increase
in smartphone usage, the youth of the world are gaining access to or owning smartphone at
younger and younger ages. This can be used for their health benefit, if used correctly. Creating
an app that promotes behavior changes that is made to target adolescents, and more
specifically adolescent females, would benefit their health. For my topic, adolescent female
obesity, I would use it to target the behavior changes needed based around eating, physical
activity, screen time, and sleep. I would utilize notifications and the include a way to easily share
to other social platforms such as Facebook. I believe this approach would work as compared to
other mobile technologies such as mobile websites because apps are always on your phone.
Unless deleted, apps can send you notifications, reminders, monitor your physical activity, and
can work as a food diary as well. Having an app eliminates the target audience’s need to
continuously type in a URL, follow a link, or remember to check-in all while bringing the
information directly to them wherever and whenever they choose.
There are many health campaign resources out there for the public and health educators
to utilize. One of them related to my topic is the Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion’s “My Healthfinder” tool. This can be added to any website and allows users to type
in their age and select their gender. After entering this information, it takes you to a page where
it lists recommendations for all people your age, and special things to consider. On this page,
one of the items recommended to 13 year olds (within my target audience) is “Get screened for
obesity”. If you follow that link
(​https://healthfinder.gov/HealthTopics/Category/parenting/nutrition-and-physical-activity/help-yo
ur-child-stay-at-a-healthy-weight?ref=MyHFLandingPage​) it brings you to a page that talks
about what obesity is, health consequences related to obesity, how parents can help their
children who have obesity, has a BMI calculator, and a “take action” section. The “take action”
section includes talking to a doctor and recommendations for physical activity, nutrition, screen
time, and sleep. I believe adapting this tool for apps and YouTube would be effective in helping
my target audience. Some changes that would need to be made would be changing the wording
to be speaking to the child rather than the parent and re-wording for simpler language and
concepts. After those changes, this tool would be a great link for YouTube videos to include in
their bio so the viewer can learn more information by following the link. However, I believe the
most effective way of using this tool would be creating an app that serves the purpose of
showcasing this tool. Being able to type in your age and gender and then having all of the
previously mentioned health information generated for you in one place is perfect for my target
audience. When using this app, it could potentially remember you and tailor the information for
you without having to re-enter your information which forms a sort of social support. Even better,
if the app could include a social support aspect such as chatrooms sorted on preferred health
topics, ages, and sexes that would allow for social support which is proven to be effective by the
Social Cognitive Theory, especially for this age group.
 References
Park, B., & Calamaro, C. (2013). A Systematic Review of Social Networking Sites: Innovative
Platforms for Health Research Targeting Adolescents and Young Adults. ​Journal of Nursing
Scholarship : An Official Publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing,
45​(3).