Digital Health Communication Campaign Analysis Essay.

Digital Health Communication Campaign Analysis

You are required to undertake a critical analysis of a current and live digital health communication case study and present it in the form of a formal report. Based on this analysis, you are required to provide strategic recommendations to the organisation, pertaining to how they could improve upon, change their approach and/or understand the issue/crisis that is affecting their current health communication campaign. You will be given a choice of organisations/issues/campaigns in class at the beginning of the semester to choose from but if you have an idea of a case study that you would like to analyse, you can propose it to the lecturer for approval.

Specific information on the organisations, issues, artefacts for analysis and research requirements will be discussed in detail in class and on MyUnits.

You must provide a detailed analysis supported by references to academic and other source material to support your strategic recommendations.

More information on how to undertake this assignment and present your report will be provided during the semester.

You will be assessed on the following criteria, which carry equal weighting:

• Appropriately and adequately addressing the task;

• Level of critical analysis of researched materials;

• Level of in-depth critical analysis of existing campaign elements;

• Level of critical thinking represented in the analysis;

• Level of critical thinking represented in the strategic recommendations;

Choose any 1 topic from the list:

Topic 1: Introduction to health communication

Topic 2: Ethics and the role of the health communicator

Topic 3: Working in the health sector: public, private and non-profit contexts

Topic 4: Working in the health sector: Health communication campaigns in practice

Topic 5: The future of health communication

LiveLighter Campaign

1. Overview of the client

LiveLighter is focused on improving the health outcomes among the Australian citizens by communicating with them using various media platforms, including the digital media platform (About LiveLighter., 2020). The program developers aim to improve the health of Australian adults by convincing them to introduce smaller or bigger changes in their lifestyle. LiveLighter is a health campaign, which mainly focuses on the food habits of the Australian adults and the disease conditions resulting from the wrong choices in the food. LiveLighter approaches to make people think about their health more often and make changes in their lives by making the suggested changes in their lifestyle (Background of the LiveLighter campaign., 2020). They use newsletters, news-videos, blogs, and advertisements to spread awareness about the disease risks associated with some specific lifestyle choices. The advertisements are published on various digital media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, weblogs, television, or radios.

LiveLighter considered the fact that about 67 percent of the overall adults are overweight or have developed obesity already (About LiveLighter., 2020). Those people are at high risk of developing different types of cancer or diabetes mellitus or cardiovascular diseases. Thus the campaign is focused on the overweight or obese population mainly. The campaign increases awareness about the risks of those diseases, encourages the Australian adults to choose a healthier lifestyle, and also helps them to achieve their goals by making some plans readily available on their websites.

LiveLighter is a non-profit campaign that uses only current and reliable information to develop different programs related to health promotion. The program developers communicate with their clients using social media platforms to convey their message. This approach can be considered as an effective approach, as the target population actively uses social media at present. According to a recent scholarly study, the “sugary drink” campaign of LiveLighter has been found to have a significantly positive impact on its target population (Morley et al., 2019). Thus, the effectiveness of the overall health communication campaign for LiveLighter can be estimated. However, in the following sections, different approaches to the campaign will be critically analysed to determine the scope for possible improvements.

2. Analysis of academic and industry related commentary and relevant literature

LiveLighter develops various fact sheets based on academic findings. The webpage information claims that all the information used in the campaign activity is based on scientific evidence. Thus it the fact sheet development can be considered as an academic commentary approach. This approach can be considered as an effective communication approach since those fact sheets present the core scientific explanations and findings in an easily understandable manner for the common people (Rosenblatt & Myers, 2016). Their advertisements on social media also motivate the common people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. The official website also provides stories of the individuals, who are motivated to choose a healthier eating habit (About LiveLighter., 2020). There are various other approaches included in the campaign that can be considered as effective for achieving their goal. The first example can be a display of the possible health outcomes in the advertisements. The campaign developers found evidence that if there is a clear visualisation about the impaired health outcomes in adult patients, they will be more motivated to adopt the change (Dixon et al., 2015). Another exemplary approach was comparing the economic value of healthy food and unhealthy food. This approach was to show people that a healthier choice is not expensive. Thus it can be decided that all the health promotion approaches adopted by LiveLighter are evidence based and thus effective.

Approaches and Effectiveness

There is also a range of studies available examining the success of the study, which is an evaluation approach to ensure the requirements for change in the campaign approaches. The official webpage of LiveLighter also described that conducting frequent surveys on the success of different campaign programs is also part of their activities (Background of the LiveLighter campaign., 2020).

3. Analysis of stakeholders, public and audiences

The mass media campaign of LiveLighter directly approaches the common adult population of Australia. Thus they can be described as the main audience. The campaign approaches to increase health awareness among the population regarding their unhealthy eating habits. The developers also provide the necessary tools to successfully monitor the progress regarding the health outcomes as a result of the adopted changes. The initial development of LiveLighter campaign was in collaboration with the government of Western Australia. Apart from the department of health, some other government departments were also involved in the development of this campaign. Thus they can be considered as one of the stakeholders for this LiveLighter campaign. The healthcare professionals were also important stakeholders for this campaign. The campaign was mostly digital media based. Thus the political support was also required to convey the message through the media successfully. According to a recent population-based evaluation, one of the interventions of the LiveLighter campaign was making perfect collaboration with all of its stakeholders, and the study also described some level of success of the campaign (Morley et al., 2016). Hence, it can be decided that the campaign considered all the audience, population, and stakeholders successfully.

4. Analysis of existing and relevant data

Even though the official website of LiveLighter does not include many evaluation studies, there are some other studies that can be found in the databases. This section will discuss the findings of some of those studies. The first study that can be found from the official website itself was a population-based evaluation study, and it suggested that there was some population-based improvement after the LiveLighter campaign was aired in the digital media (Morley et al., 2016). The next study was also found from the website, and it aimed to identify a successful advertisement strategy to prevent obesity. The study did not actually evaluate the LiveLighter campaign success directly. Still, the existence of the study suggests that the program developers of this campaign were determined to ensure the success of their plans by pre-evaluating them. The third study can be found from the database, and it was conducted by the same authors of the first study. The study found that there was a significant reduction in the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption among the 25-49 years old age group as a result of the LiveLighter campaign (Morley et al., 2018). The next study was a follow-up study and was conducted by the same authors, which found that the campaign had a positive effect on the adult population (Morley et al., 2019). The last study suggested that the campaign successfully resonated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population on the matter of consuming SSB (Browne et al., 2019).

Target Audience and Stakeholders

Hence from all the available data, it can be decided that the campaign is successfully conveying the desired message to the target population.

5. Analysis of current live communication strategies

Communication for development or the C4D approach is an important component of health communication campaigns. This is a two ways approach, where the consumers also provide some input (Communication for development., 2020). There is not much information suggesting that the LiveLighter campaign communicates with their audience according to the C4D approach. The campaigns surely use the social media platform, where the consumers can provide their respective feedbacks. However, the official webpage does not clearly mention how those feedbacks are utilised in modifying the plans and intervention of the campaign. The webpage invites questions of the consumers though, which can be found in the frequently asked question section (Frequently asked questions., 2020). This approach can be considered as a health communication that follows the C4D approach.

6. Analysis of campaign channels and tactics currently in use

The main platform for the campaign is social media, which is used by most of the adult population at present. Thus this strategy decreases the likelihood of not conveying the message to the target population.

The videos developed as part of the campaign are short and engaging, conveying the message of impaired health outcomes strongly. The LiveLighter webpage contains a range of strategies to encourage any individual to adopt a healthy eating habit. There are recipes for healthy but appetising food, factsheets describing the harm of unhealthy eating, daily eating plans, and various other tools. There are also stories of some individuals who were motivated to lead a healthy lifestyle. Overall the campaign used many powerful tactics to achieve its goal.

According to the above discussion, it can be decided that the campaign is sufficiently effective in achieving the desired goal. However, two suggestions can be made to broaden the effect of the campaign.

The first one is the LiveLighter campaign must increase the level of health communication with the audience. Some people might be finding the change difficult, which should be considered for making further improvements in the plan.

The second recommendation is there are some factors responsible for unhealthy eating, such as impaired mental health and stress (Rasheed, 2017). These aspects should be considered, and there should be strategies to overcome them in order to promote healthy eating.

References

About LiveLighter. (2020). About LiveLighter. Livelighter.com.au. Retrieved 11 May 2020, from https://livelighter.com.au/About/.

Background of the LiveLighter campaign. (2020). Background of the LiveLighter campaign. Livelighter.com.au. Retrieved 11 May 2020, from https://livelighter.com.au/About/Background.

Browne, J., MacDonald, C., Egan, M., Delbridge, R., McAleese, A., Morley, B., & Atkinson, P. (2019). You wouldn't eat 16 teaspoons of sugar—so why drink it? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander responses to the LiveLighter sugary drink campaign. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 30(2), 212-218. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.196

Communication for development. (2020). Communication for development. UNICEF. Retrieved 11 May 2020, from https://www.unicef.org/cbsc/.

Dixon, H., Scully, M., Durkin, S., Brennan, E., Cotter, T., Maloney, S., ... & Wakefield, M. (2015). Finding the keys to successful adult-targeted advertisements on obesity prevention: an experimental audience testing study. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 804. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-2159-6

Frequently asked questions. (2020). Frequently asked questions. Livelighter.com.au. Retrieved 11 May 2020, from https://livelighter.com.au/About/FAQ.

Morley, B. C., Niven, P. H., Dixon, H. G., Swanson, M. G., McAleese, A. B., & Wakefield, M. A. (2018). Controlled cohort evaluation of the LiveLighter mass media campaign’s impact on adults’ reported consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. BMJ open, 8(4), e019574. https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019574

Morley, B., Niven, P., Dixon, H., Swanson, M., Szybiak, M., Shilton, T., ... & Wakefield, M. (2019). Association of the LiveLighter mass media campaign with consumption of sugar?sweetened beverages: Cohort study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 30(Suppl 1), 34.  doi: 10.1002/hpja.244.

Morley, B., Niven, P., Dixon, H., Swanson, M., Szybiak, M., Shilton, T., ... & Wakefield, M. (2016). Population-based evaluation of the ‘LiveLighter’healthy weight and lifestyle mass media campaign. Health education research, 31(2), 121-135. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fher%2Fcyw009

Rasheed, N. (2017). Stress-associated eating leads to obesity. International journal of health sciences, 11(2). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426417/

Rosenblatt, M., & Myers, L. (2016). Communication Is Part of the Cure: Improving Health Literacy. Journal of health communication, 21(sup1), 1. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F10810730.2015.1131778