About Us- Without Us. Why Tailored Communication Matters.

Background:

Vulnerable individuals belong to every community, race, ethnicity, background, and socioeconomic status. Especially incarcerated populations and LGBTQIA youth. These communities are at higher risk for suicide, tobacco use, and drug/alcohol abuse. These populations should be thoughtfully considered when creating health communication materials to improve health and eliminate health disparities.

Program background:

Specifically, for this presentation I will be focusing on communication strategies that involve communicating with vulnerable youth populations and incarcerated adults. From building youth groups to building momentum for policy changes – involving the individuals and populations that are experiencing the issues that are trying to be changed is the single most valuable way to build solid, inclusive content.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

Program evaluation is expensive – reaching out to local health departments, non-profits or other community agencies that have conducted similar communication campaigns may have an established evaluation process that works well in your community – never re-invent the wheel- but customize for your population’s needs. Taking advantage of FREE tracking sites while utilizing social media data and analytics are a great way to show campaign reach and effectiveness. The most powerful lessons I have learned are to ALWAYS ASK and INVOLVE the populations you are trying to reach – never underestimate the value of qualitative data. Communication campaigns that validate and align with true experiences will always out perform general health messaging. Understanding the balance between attitudes (of your population) will serve better than catering to the overall social norm or status quo of your community.

Conclusions:

Health communication methods that are inclusive use real life examples and enriches the lives of those listening. Improved/updated content and varied/ applicable mediums for communication, and constant assessment, improves message reception. If vulnerable populations are given the tools, and information to empower them to make informed decisions, the results are astounding.

Implications for research and/or practice:

Vulnerable populations face especially difficult barriers when it comes to accessing health communication that is relevant. An inclusive health communication campaign must value, support, and reflect the values population to be effective. Picking or customizing a campaign, along with the appropriate champions, will allow individuals to take ownership of and identify with the messaging.