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DO SOCIAL MARKETING MESSAGE CAMPAIGNS WORK? NOTES ON EVALUATING HIV PREVENTION INITIATIVES
T Trussler1, R Marchand1, P Banks2
¹Community-Based Research Centre; 2AIDS Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
It should be clear to all health disciplines that our capability to discern behaviour change within populations resulting from any particular prevention activity is quite restricted. High-risk individuals who would be targets of such campaigns usually represent only small minorities within any population. Anticipated change would only be observable within the risk minority and all others would register as having had "no effect". Thus, looking for change in either behavioural epidemiology or incidence decrease is a set up for disappointment and yet, such notions are constantly the subject of policy and program discussions. The problem is not that the intended change effects of prevention initiatives are impossible to observe but with whom, when and where. This evaluation of the Assumptions campaign, a national prevention initiative aimed at men having unprotected sex with unknown HIV status male partners, made use of an "intercept" survey to measure exposure and change effects in a sample of 414 men obtained in gay districts of 5 participating cities across Canada. The survey showed an overall exposure recall rate of 80%, varied by city. On questions addressing whether the campaign motivated reflection on recent sex experience or intention to change, the survey found that, while 76% of those exposed thought about recent sex, only 48% formed intentions to change. Further analysis showed, however, that those at higher risk were more than twice as likely to have formed change intentions as a result of the campaign. The results show, not only the effectiveness of the Assumptions campaign in reaching gay men, but also in motivating change within a known risk minority. The intercept survey showed itself to be a particularly promising method for observing such effects.