I was presenting two posters with Dr. Kelly Albada regarding breastfeeding intentions from a media complementarity theory's perspective. One of our posters related to our research about the predictors of breastfeeding intentions, including body image, media use, and interpersonal relations. The second poster illustrated our research regarding women's nutritional information seeking during pregnancy. It was interesting to talk to and receive feedback from participants that work in these different fields. We engaged in lively discussions with several people in the public health field that advocate for breastfeeding. We were able to discuss our findings and talk about other avenues of research that might be important, such as time, work environment, and other stressors that might inhibit intentions to breastfeed. In retrospect, it seems very plausible that these factors might interact with the media use and information-seeking variables to predict intended behaviors. We were also pleased to be approached by others with questions and interest in continuing the discussion after the conference, including someone from the health insurance field. This certainly points to the practical implications these studies can have, which is what we want!
Beyond discussing our own research, there were many other posters, presentations, panels, and exhibitions that sparked my interest. Some I simply found interesting and there are others that I think can fit into my own research interests. I'm trying to figure those out, so here are just a couple of main points of interest from the conference and my thoughts or questions that came from them:
1. The Marketing and Advertising of Unhealthy Foods to Groups with High Obesity Rates:
This is a hot topic right now. In the United States, groups with the highest obesity rates, particularly the Latino and African American communities, are being specifically targeted by companies selling unhealthy foods, such as McDonald's, Coca Cola, Kraft, and Honey Nut Cheerios (not even the regular cheerios). This has been troubling for many working in health promotion in these areas, as they are finding mixed attitudes in these communities. On the one hand they are finding that these groups, particularly in the Latino communities, are appreciative that these companies are acknowledging and trying to understand their culture. On the other hand, they understand that these pervasive advertisements are dangerous for a group already dealing with higher obesity rates (and the diseases that come with those--diabetes, heart disease, etc.). So what are public health professionals supposed to do? This came up during a morning plenary session and was discussed by Dr. Jennifer Harris of Yale University. Dr. Harris is also the Director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. She has been working with a goal of changing the advertisements and working with the advertisers themselves to change what they are doing within the communities. During questions, someone asked why we would not just encourage healthy food companies to promote their products within the communities instead, as that would seem more promising. Dr. Harris' response was that while that would be ideal, many healthy foods can't be advertised there because they aren't anywhere--so there needs to be another way to promote eating healthy and they believe working with the advertisers already in the community would be the most productive method. Of course, I am providing only a glimpse of this discussion and Dr. Harris made many excellent points.
So, how might this fit into my own research? As someone who is interested in the effects of health campaigns and messages, I have just a glimmer of an idea at this point. While corporations with the money to spend on advertising would obviously be the best candidates for providing better foods and advertisements, I wonder 2 main things: 1) how can public health professionals create messages within these communities that could motivate people to look for healthier options? What would these messages look like? What effects might they have? Who should the target audience be?; and 2) Has a media literacy campaign been implemented or thought of? What type of media literacy program would work best in these communities to have the most effective results? Should it be in conjunction with a nutritional literacy program? If the corporations aren't willing to drastically alter their goals in these communities, then we need to ensure that the people can critically think through these messages and have the power to make wise judgments about media AND nutrition.
I also have a book I now need to read at some point (although this recommendation came from another panel session): The Marketing Matrix: How the Corporation Gets Its Power--and How We Can Reclaim It, by Gerard Hastings
2. Text4Baby and other health-related mobile reminders
I was very interested in learning about the updates to the Text4Baby program started by the National Healthy Mothers, Health Babies Coalition and sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. This program now reaches over 390K mothers with important healthy tips for mom and for baby. It also provides easy access to help when a mom needs to ask questions or talk to someone. The program is still being altered at times as they receive feedback from moms within the program. It's fascinating how well it is working and how much moms involved feel more empowered to make decisions for themselves and for their babies. In this same session, another presenter from the University of Kansas School of Medicine discussed the development and pilot testing of text reminders for immunizations for children. The pilot test for this has proven to be a positive way to make sure children get the immunizations they need, when they need them. Further, during Q&A another healthcare worker was discussing her program's plans to implement text reminders to check for ticks on a daily basis.
Now, how did I think about this within my research? These programs are interesting and I wonder if this is a viable way in the long run to promote healthy behaviors, to empower those who may otherwise not feel like they could make the right choices, and to keep people on track with their health. Even in lower income communities, most people have a cell phone, so maybe this could even be a way to encourage healthy eating habits with reminders 1 to a few times a week? It would be an interesting experiment to pilot a program within these communities and test the results. Do people use the messages and appreciate them? Have they made healthier decisions because of the messages? Have there been any major health outcomes (i.e. lower blood pressure, loss of weight, lower cholesterol, etc.)? It would almost be a nutritional literacy program that merely requires a phone. Would that be more effective than just a face-to-face media or nutritional literacy program?
Clearly, I have so much to think about from this conference. I hope to get there again next year with more research to share and more ideas to come away with!
Stay tuned for posts about the AEJMC conference!
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