Use of child booster seats in motor vehicles following a community campaign: a controlled trial. Evaluation of community-based programs to increase booster seat use. Effects of an institutional AIDS prevention intervention: moderation by gender. Comparison of Interventions to Reduce Sun Exposure Effects of "10,000 steps Ghent": a whole-community intervention. A community level syphilis prevention programme: outcome data from a controlled trial Kasdah B'Rosh Toy: A Description and Evaluation of the Israeli Bicycle Helmet Campaign Increasing condom use among adolescents with coalition-based social marketing Giving away free nicotine medications and a cigarette substitute (Better Quit) to promote calls to a quitline.
CONTEXT Once children have outgrown car seats , booster seats protect from injury better than lap and shoulder belts alone . However , the majority of children aged 4 to 8 years use only an adult seat belt . OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted community booster seat campaign in increasing observed booster seat use among child passengers in motor vehicles . DESIGN Prospect i ve , nonr and omized , controlled community intervention trial . SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The campaign was initiated in 4 communities in the greater Seattle , Wash , area between January 2000 and March 2001 . Eight communities in Portl and , Ore , and Spokane , Wash , served as control sites . We observed 3609 booster-eligible children ( those aged 4 - 8 years and weighing 18 - 36 kg [ 40 - 80 lb ] ) . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Observed booster seat use 15 months after the start of the campaign . RESULTS Before the campaign began , 13.3 % of eligible children in the intervention communities and 17.3 % in the control communities were using booster seats , adjusting for child age , driver seat belt use , and sex of driver . Fifteen months after the start of the campaign , adjusted booster seat use had increased to 26.1 % in the intervention communities and 20.2 % in the control communities ( P = .008 for the difference in time trends between intervention and control communities ) . CONCLUSION These data suggest that a multifaceted community education campaign can significantly increase the use of child booster seats This manuscript reports the results of an evaluation of two community-based booster seat promotion programs in Michigan ; one program focused on a low-income community , while the other focused on a Hispanic community . Each community received funding to develop and implement a booster seat intervention program specific to their community . To determine the effectiveness of each program , direct observation surveys of booster seat use were conducted in each community , as well as in similarly composed comparison communities , before and after program implementation . A process evaluation documented activities and provided additional information for interpreting the results of the direct observation survey . Target age children ( 4 - 8 years ) were observed traveling in cars , vans/minivans , sport-utility vehicles , and pickup trucks in each community . Baseline booster seat use was 19.0+/-5.3 % and 9.7+/-2.5 % for the low-income and Hispanic program communities , respectively . Post program results showed no significant change for the low-income program community , and a significant increase within the Hispanic program community . The process evaluation revealed challenges for each program and suggestions to overcome those challenges . Findings from the study can be useful to other communities interested in implementing programs to increase the use of booster seats AIDS risk reduction programs are being conducted in many institutional setting s , but rigorous evaluations of their effectiveness are lacking . This is particularly unfortunate in that these programs are expensive , and tend to be of lower intensity than those that have been shown to be effective . Further , risk reduction is generally regarded as entailing greater difficulty for women , who do not use condoms themselves but must negotiate their use with male partners . We used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate an institutional AIDS prevention program on a New Jersey college campus .  Sexual behavior was assessed via linked , anonymous mailed surveys at the beginning and end of an academic year among 1st-year students on the campus and others on a nearby control campus . Responses from the spring survey indicated that intervention campus students had been exposed significantly more than control students to intervention components . While MANCOVA analyses indicated no main effect of treatment group on outcome variable , we obtained a significant group by gender interaction , indicating a significant effect on number of risky encounters for men but not for women . In fact , relative to women on the control campus , women on the intervention campus displayed reduced self-efficacy to perform safe sex at the end of the year . These results may indicate that although men can be effectively reached by low-intensity risk reduction programs , women may not be . In fact , interventions without adequate intensity to provide substantial and individualized negotiation skill training may cause women to experience failure in these efforts Exposure to ultraviolet ( UV ) light is the leading behavioral cause of skin cancer . This study evaluated the efficacy of 2 interventions to reduce UV exposure in college students prior to an opportunity for high-intensity exposure . Participants of 1 college campus were assigned r and omly to 1 of 2 interventions prior to their spring holiday spent in a warm , sunny location : ( 1 ) a community-based informational campaign , or ( 2 ) a combination of the campaign and a cognitive-behavioral small group intervention .  Participants of a second college campus served as a comparison group . The cognitive-behavioral group exhibited increased knowledge , more positive attitudes toward UV protection , greater advancement through stages of change , and greater protective clothing use relative to the comparison or community-education groups . The informational campaign had little apparent impact in this study BACKGROUND Currently there is a great deal of interest in multi strategy community-based approaches to changing physical activity or health behaviors . The aim of this article is to describe the effectiveness of the physical activity promotion project " 10,000 Steps Ghent " after 1 year of intervention . METHODS A multi strategy community-based intervention was implemented in 2005 with follow-up measurements in 2006 to promote physical activity to adults . A local media campaign , environmental approaches , the sale and loan of pedometers , and several local physical activity projects were concurrently implemented . In 2005 , 872 r and omly selected subjects ( aged 25 to 75 ) , from the intervention community Ghent and 810 from a comparison community , participated in the baseline measurements . Of these , 660 intervention subjects and 634 comparison subjects completed the follow-up measurements in 2006 . Statistical analyses were performed in 2006 . RESULTS After one year there was an increase of 8 % in the number of people reaching the " 10,000 steps " st and ard in Ghent , compared with no increase in the comparison community . Average daily steps increased by 896 ( 95 % CI=599 - 1192 ) in the intervention community , but there was no increase in the comparison community ( mean change -135 [ 95 % CI= -432 to 162 ] ) ( F time x community=22.8 , p<0.001 ) . Results are supported by self-reported International Physical Activity Question naire ( IPAQ ) data . CONCLUSIONS The " 10,000 steps/day " message reached the Ghent population and the project succeeded in increasing pedometer-determined physical activity levels in Ghent , after 1 year of intervention Objectives : This study investigated the impact of a small media campaign to reduce syphilis through testing , treatment , and condom use in two urban predominantly African-American communities with high syphilis rates . Methods : Data were collected from intervention and comparison zip codes using cross sectional street intercept interviews at baseline and 2 years later ( n = 1630 ) following a small media syphilis prevention campaign with role model story posters , billboards , and other merch and ise . Community businesses and a community based organisation served as partners , distributing condoms and small media . Results : Comparing intervention with comparison zip codes , there were significant increases in condom use in last sexual act , and some aspects of knowledge of syphilis . However , there was significant cross contamination of media impact , with respondents in the comparison zip code seeing an average of two media items compared with three in the intervention zip code . Media exposure was associated with significant increases in knowledge of syphilis , testing , and condom use . Conclusions : Targeted community based small media interventions using community partners for distribution are effective in increasing syphilis knowledge , testing , and condom use In this article , the  Israeli bicycle helmet campaign that began in 1993 and was accompanied both by increases in sales of helmets and by increases in their use by children is described and evaluated . Based on formative research , the authors design ed a campaign by applying functional theories of attitudes . Evaluative research allowed testing the suitability of this application . Results supported functional predictions . Children 's exposure to an initial pilot campaign was associated with changes in normative perceptions of helmet wearing and with increased willingness to wear a helmet . Their exposure to the subsequent comprehensive campaign was associated with changes in utilitarian beliefs but not with increased willingness to wear helmets .  Parents ' exposure to the comprehensive campaign was associated with changes in utilitarian beliefs , but their willingness to require their children to wear helmets was limited by their perceived ability to succeed in influencing their children 's use of helmets Objectives This study evaluated a multimodal social marketing intervention to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV infection among adolescents in Sacramento , California , USA . Design Five rounds of a cross-sectional r and om sample telephone survey were conducted from December 1996 to October 1998 . The total number of respondents was 1402 . Results A statistically significant , increasing trend in exposure to the intervention was detected . The number of channels through which an adolescent had been exposed to the intervention was associated with condom use at last sex with main partner [ odds ratio ( OR ) 1.26 , P < 0.01 ] and with psychosocial determinants of this behavior . After statistical adjustments for sex , age , and race/ethnicity to make the survey rounds comparable , the proportion of adolescents who had used a condom at last sex increased 4.3 percentage points over the 1 year intervention period . ConclusionS ocial marketing can be combined with behavioral science to reduce the risk of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases ( STD ) among adolescents in a large geographical area . Such a reduction can exceed expectations based on national secular trends This article presents results from two population -based promotions for free cessation products used to induce smokers to call the New York State Smokers ' . The first promotion was a press announcement urging smokers to call the quitline to get a voucher for a free 2-week supply of nicotine patches or gum ( nicotine replacement therapy [ NRT ] ) . The second promotion involved comparing response to two newspaper advertisements for the quitline , one of which offered a free stop smoking guide and one that offered the guide plus a free stop smoking aide called Better Quit ( BQ ) . Responses to each promotion were monitored by tracking the call volume to the quitline-before , during , and after each of the promotions . The NRT voucher promotion increased median call volume 25-fold compared to prepromotion levels , whereas the BQ newspaper advertisement increased median call volume 2-fold compared to a newspaper advertisement for the quitline , which did not offer BQ . A r and om sample of 732 smokers who received the free NRT voucher  were followed up 4 to 6 months later to determine their use of NRT and smoking behavior . Embedded within this follow-up study was a r and omized experiment in which half the smokers were mailed a quit kit with BQ included and the other half received just the quit kit . Seventy percent of follow-up survey respondents said that they had redeemed the NRT voucher and used the medication to try to quit smoking . Twenty-two percent reported they were no longer smoking , compared with the 12 percent among a comparison group of quitline callers who had not received the free NRT voucher ( odds ratio = 1.77 ; 95 % confidence interval : 1.17 - 2.68 ) . There was no difference in quit rates between those that were sent the BQ cigarette substitute and those that did not get the BQ . This study shows that offering a free 2-week voucher for NRT is a cost-effective method to increase calls to a stop smoking quitline and may also increase the odds of quitting for those who get the free NRT
CONTEXT Health communication campaigns including mass media and health-related product distribution have been used to reduce mortality and morbidity through behavior change .
The intervention is defined as having two core components reflecting two social marketing principles : ( 1 ) promoting behavior change through multiple communication channels , one being mass media , and ( 2 ) distributing a free or reduced-price product that facilitates adoption and maintenance of healthy behavior change , sustains cessation of harmful behaviors , or protects against behavior-related disease or injury .