Media impact of the SESPAS (Spanish Public Health Association) 2000 report]

OBJECTIVE: To measure the mediatic effect of different communication strategies used in public health advocacy. More specifically, to compare the effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a tool to attract the attention of journalists, with other more traditional formulas. METHODS: For the Spanish Public Health Association (SESPAS) Report 2000, two types of media strategies to communicate the report contents were programmed: a) traditional and passive strategies, centred in approaching journalists through press releases and press conferences around the SESPAS meeting (November 15-20 1999); b) interactive strategies, since August 15 to December 30, focused towards attracting health journalists to the non-embargoed, full text SESPAS report launched in a web site. To facilitate the web page use, we wrote a letter, in the first week of August, to all the members of the Spanish Health Communicators Association giving them the URL and the website map. In parallel, a monitoring system of the media impact was established from August to December 99, covering 250 magazines and 70 newspapers, in order to locate and recover all the stories about the SESPAS report for further analysis. RESULTS: Sixty-six stories were recovered; they were published in 32 press media from 24 provinces with an advertising value of 18,243,873 Ptas. As a whole, smaller circulation rate papers published more stories than larger ones. During five months, the SESPAS report was present in the press agenda, even though stories were not distributed homogeneously over time. Information concentrated around three moments: the first one, a week after our summer mailing; the second one, in the occasion of the publication of a story about the increase in traffic accidents in El País, and the third one during the SESPAS meeting. There were significant differences among those stories published from the traditional strategies of communication and those published from the interactive ones, the latter being more diverse, with more contributions of the journalists and tackling a wider range of issues. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of traditional and alternative communication strategies was a effective option. Unlike previous experiences in this occasion, with the network aid, the presence of SESPAS in media was not punctual around the Congress, but maintained during five months. The results and the obtained experience of this research can be useful for future public health advocacy interventions in Spain.     

新形势下运用新媒体开展公共卫生传播的探讨

随着现代信息技术的发展,以网络、手机为代表的新媒体逐渐发展起来,日益成为人们获取信息的主要媒介与平台。在此背景下,探索如何运用新媒体来开展健康传播已成为政府及卫生部门的必修课。本文就新形势下新媒体传播特点以及运用新媒体开展公共卫生传播的策略进行了探讨。     

Predictors of weight loss at the end of treatment and 1-year follow-up for a behavioral weight loss program

The present study sought to identify predictors of weight loss at the end of a 10-week treatment program and during a 1-year follow-up period. Participants were 83 obese women solicited from the community by advertisement. Results showed that weight loss during the first week of dieting, a greater number of past weight loss attempts, and a larger monthly weight loss goal were predictive of outcome at the end of the 10-week treatmetn program. Work status, age of onset of obesity, and the ratio of overcome urges to total urges to overeat were predictive of weight loss from the end of treatment to the 1-year follow-up. No pretreatment variables predicted follow-up weight status. Frequency of bingeing, frequency of urges, and demographic variables (other than age of onset and work status) were not predictive of weight loss at any time. The lack of commonality between identified predictors of treatment and follow-up outcomes supports the contention that the operative factors leading to weight control differ during the treatment and maintenance phases.