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… sending out an SMS: an impact and outcome evaluation of the Western Australian Department of Health's 2005 chlamydia campaign
Author(s) -
Wilkins Alexa,
Mak Donna B.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he07113
Subject(s) - chlamydia , reproductive health , medicine , public health , health communication , advertising , the internet , family medicine , health promotion , gonorrhea , focus group , environmental health , population , nursing , public relations , business , political science , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , world wide web , computer science , immunology , marketing
Issue addressed Evaluation of the Western Australian (WA) Department of Health 2005 chlamydia campaign. Methods Twenty‐nine people aged 17–25 years were focus tested and 122 people aged 14–29 years were surveyed to investigate awareness and opinions of a multimedia chlamydia campaign targeting young people and to seek their recommendations on how to communicate sexual health information to young people. Forty‐three general practice (GP) waiting rooms in the Perth metropolitan area were visited to examine type, availability and standard of display of sexual health resources. Results The majority of participants surveyed (63.2%) were aware of the chlamydia campaign. Campaign recall ranged from 27% for the website to 48.4% for the posters and print advertisements. Participants predominantly nominated television, radio, posters and magazines as preferred media for receiving sexual health messages. Participants preferred to obtain sexual health information through the Internet or a health professional. The majority of participants (58.2%) rated Short Message Service (SMS) as a very good or good communication method. Chlamydia testing increased during the campaign period by 21% in females and 29% in males, and notifications increased by 12% in females and 4% in males. Conclusions The study demonstrated a high level of awareness of the chlamydia campaign among the target audience. Television, radio, posters, magazines, the Internet and health professionals were the preferred media for receiving and obtaining sexual health information. SMS was identified as a useful marketing strategy. There was a low level of uptake of the campaign resources in GP waiting rooms. So what? This evaluation identifies SMS as an acceptable medium for communicating sexual health information to young people and demonstrates that targeted consumer and GP advertising was followed by increases in chlamydia testing and notification.