healthy people

Worldways Social Marketing has been working alongside Nemours Health & Prevention Services to fight the epidemic of Childhood Obesity.  As part of the campaign to “Make Delaware’s Kids the Healthiest in the Nation,” we created The Mighty Timoneers, a cartoon series aimed at entertaining, educating and influencing Delaware’s children, ages 6-11.

These lively cartoon characters not only engage and entertain children, they promote the motivation, ability and opportunity for Delaware’s kids to live healthy lifestyles. The campaign was developed using the Healthy People/ Healthy Places Framework.

With the creation of the Mighty Timoneers, Worldways Social Marketing has become a pioneer in utilizing entertainment media to help reduce childhood obesity.

Beginning September 1, we will post a weekly sketch of each Mighty Timoneers character, explaining why they were created, what they represent and how the Healthy People/Healthy Places Framework is used to  influence our target audience.

Be sure to come back next Tuesday and learn about the first of our four characters, Min.

View the case study, and learn more about the Mighty Timoneers Campaign.

Tagged as: Childhood obesity, Entertainment Media, healthy children, healthy people, Healthy Places, social marketing

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Originally published on 4/11/2007
I mentioned in a previous post that the fight against childhood obesity leaves many health organizations asking, “How do we reach the greatest number of children in the shortest period of time with the most efficient and sustainable use of resources to combat childhood obesity and promote healthier lifestyles?”

The People and Places Framework helps provide the answer to that question.

1. Define the desired outcome. For example, a population-based target for children within certain BMI (Body Mass Index) ranges and/or targets for certain weight-related morbidities or co-morbidities.

It’s also important to define the desired outcome of a proposed initiative: To foster the ability, opportunity and motivation for our area’s children to lead healthier lifestyles.

2. Define the behaviors that will be required to achieve those outcomes, and the status of those behaviors within the target populations. Children should eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, reduce intake of high calorie/low nutrient food, engage in at least an hour of physical activity daily, and reduce screen time to 2 hours or less. Their parents should take steps to enable these behaviors. Those who advise parents on their children’s health should address healthy lifestyles. And, those in a position to make policy and practice change should make changes to enable healthier lifestyles for kids.

For each of these groups (which may be further refined), status of the behavior can be charted along Prochaska, et. al.’s Five Stages of Behavior Change.

3. Generate possible interventions along the People and Places continuum and assess their relative efficacy. An approach targeting individuals would be largely educational, encouraging an individual to change behavior and/or join a program. An approach targeting groups would be programmatic, providing learning and engagement opportunities and/or leveraging social networking and other connections. An approach targeting populations would likely blend both social marketing and programmatic initiatives.

But what’s the best way to reach the desired outcomes? On one hand, policy or practice change close to where kids learn and develop would be desirable. For example, the elimination of soda machines from schools. But, on a broader scale, statewide policy mandating at least 210 minutes of exercise per week for school children might be seen as having the greatest impact.

In some instances, a population-wide social marketing intervention may make the most sense, especially if the solution to childhood obesity is seen as requiring a set of behavior changes. In others, a policy advocacy intervention may make the most sense, if it is broad enough to affect a key determinant of childhood obesity in an encompassing fashion.

The point is, there’s no single choice of intervention that fits all situations best. The first two steps, rigorously conducted, yield a significant foundation for the design and evaluation of alternative interventions. By using the People and Places Framework, we’re able to develop possible interventions, and the criteria to screen them against.

Tagged as: 5-2-1-Almost None, Childhood obesity, delaware, healthy people, Healthy Places

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A recent study by Yale University has found that TV Food Advertising Increases Snacking and Potential Weight Gain in Children and Adults. The study found that exposure to food advertising increased overall consumption, even for foods that had not been present in the adverts.

I found this study particularly interesting as it relates to
the 5-2-1-Almost None Formula promoted by one of our clients, Nemours Health and Prevention Services.

According to information on the Mighty Timoneers website:

The percentage of overweight youth has more than tripled in the last 20 years. About 35% of children in the U.S. and 37% in Delaware are overweight or obese.

Nemours has taken a leading role to help people understand the causes and health implications of obesity and the best ways to promote healthier lifestyles among children and families. Our “formula for a healthy lifestyle” is 5-2-1-Almost None

5-2-1-Almost none

• Eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day<
• watching two or fewer hours of screen time a day
• Getting one or more hours of physical activity a day
• And drinking almost no sugary beverages

At first glance, the Yale study may simple be pointing out the importance of substituting food advertisements for other types of ads. Yet another way to avoid exposure to such advertisements is simply to turn the television off completely. The 5-2-1-Almost None formula recommends limiting ’screen time’ (television as well as computer) to two hours a day. Not only will this limit exposure to these ads, it may result in the adoption of more active pastimes.

To learn more about our childhood obesity work with Nemours Health and Prevention Services, you can review the case studies for two campaigns: The Mighty Timoneers and Kids Can’t Do It Alone.

Tagged as: Childhood obesity, healthy people, Nemours

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Originally published on 3/16/2007

The Healthy People/Healthy Places Framework was designed to be applied to myriad scenarios. Its application to childhood obesity is currently being fielded in Delaware a complement to the overarching work of Nemours Health & Prevention Services (NHPS).

NHPS is the health promotion and preventive services division of Nemours, one of the nation’s preeminent children’s healthcare systems. In early 2004, NHPS set the bold goal of making Delaware’s children the healthiest in the nation. A key component of that goal was addressing the challenge of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity and the attendant health risks have reached epidemic proportions. Most of the efforts to reverse these alarming trends prescribe interventions in the areas of healthy eating and/or physical activity. There is some evidence-based best practice with regard to the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity. However, most interventions studied were not specifically focused on childhood obesity. The connections to be drawn are intuitive and many public health organizations are still left struggling with the question of, “How do we reach the greatest number of children in the shortest period of time with the most efficient and sustainable use of resources to combat childhood obesity and promote healthier lifestyles?”

The NHPS strategy has many facets, including a social marketing campaign based on the People/Places framework. Currently, Ed Maibach and I are proudly serving as advisors to NHPS, and Worldways is in the midst of helping to implement the statewide program to combat childhood obesity. Healthy People/Healthy Places has proven to be very relevant by: fostering an understanding of the dynamics of childhood obesity from both a behavioral and environmental perspective; providing a framework for codifying prospective interventions and determining the best mix of people- vs. place-based strategies; and determining the types of marketing, communications, program, policy, and environmental initiatives most likely to result in change.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about the People/Places Framework, its application to challenging childhood obesity, key strategies evolved in Delaware and other places, and opportunities for future applications.

Tagged as: Childhood obesity, delaware, framework, healthy people, Healthy Places, Nemours

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Speed monitoring signs are very effective psychological speed bumps, but the Elm Grove Police took that a step further. Not only do the signs warn you of exceeding the posted speed limit, they also collate that speed to the consequences of that choice.

Tagged as: behavior change, cause creative, healthy people, Healthy Places, public health, social marketing

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Do Good
This awesome ipod/iphone app unites millions of users to do one random act of kindness a day.

The application is appropriately called “DoGood”. Each day the application displays the same “DoGood” to every user on a particular day. Once you’ve completed the DoGood, simply press done.

Social Media Integration
Facebook and Twitter integration allows you to easily tell your friends about each day’s DoGood. You can leave a story on each DoGood, or read the stories of others.

Tracking Social Change
DoGood collects statistics from the group anonymously, and presents them on a graphical dashboard allowing you to easily track each day’s activity. Moreover, you can view past DoGoods and their respective stories.

Join the movement:
http://mobil33t.com/dogood

Tagged as: behavior change, cause, cause creative, Digital Activism, Facebook, healthy people, Healthy Places, public health, social marketing, social media, social networks, twitter

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Today, thousands of Denver Metro Area residents will participate in Denver’s Bike to Work Day to conserve fuel, help the environment and burn calories! Participants who rode to work this morning received free breakfast from over 100 sponsors, community organizations and local businesses in support of the environment and healthy lifestyles.

Last year approximately 35,000 people got off of their butts and out of traffic to participate in Bike to Work Day. We hope today’s participants help top last year’s record breaking numbers, and give people the inspiration to park their cars and pull out their bikes instead.

Kudos to all who participated! Your body and the environment thank you.

Tagged as: Add new tag, bicycling, Bike to work day, Denver, environment, healthy people, Healthy Places, traffic

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When I first saw the article about the World’s Happiest Places, I was certain that I was going to be able to map a result back to the World’s Healthiest Places. Not so easy – but there was some crossover. The criteria that Forbes uses to define happiness and health are somewhat subjective, but none the less, it is a GREAT topic for consideration when looking at potential motivators and influences on health. What could this mean for social marketers?

When looking at the “happiest” nations, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand and Belgium were listed in the top ten. Forbes focused on “life satisfaction” factors that contributed to happiness such as economic health, work-life balance and unemployment rates but also included questions about pride, respect and learning.

Now, how does that compare to the “healthiest” nations? Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Austria, and the Netherlands ranked at the top. Measures included national health care systems, air pollution, infant mortality rates, safe drinking water/sanitation, density of physicians, life expectancies and prevalence of tuberculosis. (Note that this is not self reported data like the other study and as a public health professional, this criterion for health seems a bit archaic.)

But, if we cross compare, it looks like its time to travel to Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands to get some answers. More to come as I dive a little more into the social marketing efforts that come from some of these healthy places.

Tagged as: healthy people, Healthy Places, influences, motivators, social marketing

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Most of who are advocates for healthier people and healthier places are proponents of health reform as well. Access for all to the right care at the right time is an important building block of healthy communities. Many current health reform proposals will go a long way toward improving economic access to health care by improving coverage. However, the health status of many Americans will not change solely with access to health insurance, although expansion of coverage is important. This is especially true for the health status of those in our communities who are most vulnerable, at high risk and already suffering from chronic disease.

Improving health status also requires a health delivery system that, at its core is socially just, disparity-free and seeks to maximize health, not income, as its principle measure of success. Safety net hospitals, like Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California, can serve as the literal, and virtual heart of health reform. As safety net hospitals, these organizations do more than provide “exceptional care without exception”. They work tirelessly to promote and protect the health of the whole community, they help our most vulnerable neighbors to get the care they need when they need, they meet diverse cultural and linguistic needs and they ensure that each and everyone of us will have the care we need when we need it. Any health reform proposal that seeks to ensure that Americans and our communities grow healthier must strengthen and support our our safety net institutions.

Together with their community health center partners, they are doing more to protect and promote health and heal the sick and injured than any other component of our health system. Look closely, and you will see that they have pioneered models of care that improve quality, lower cost and expand access, lessons that can be built upon as we create a more effective, just and affordable health system.

I invite everyone who cares about healthy people and healthy places to advocate for the safety net and its leadership role in health reform. To learn more, visit www.naph.org/naph/policyitems/reformgraphic.html and support your local safety net hospital, including our clients and friends at Boston Medical Center and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Tagged as: Boston Medical Center, health care reform, healthy people, Healthy Places, hospital, local hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

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