Advancing Effective Obesity Communications Proceedings of a Workshop (2020) / Chapter Skim
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4 Lessons from the Field: Potential Focus Areas for Communications of Obesity Solutions
4 Lessons from the Field: Potential Focus Areas for Communications of Obesity Solutions
Pages 33-46
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From page 33... ...
Framing physical activity as a gain and an opportunity to connect with family can help Hispanics overcome barriers that hinder physical activity. Technology's exponential growth has led to decentralization, creating an opportunity for engaging new collaborators to be part of swarm intelligence that could be applied to create and iterate obesity solutions.
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From page 34... ...
By 2015, he continued, WW found that people had shifted to a broader, more holistic approach that included more emphasis on physical activity and on a focused and positive mindset, as well as an emerging consideration of food quality. People still viewed weight loss as an essential part of improving overall health, he recalled, but were less weight-focused than they previously had been and had more realistic expectations for an achievable healthy weight.
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From page 35... ...
journey" or "way of living" are favored over those that imply temporary, short-term solutions, such as "before/after" and "diet" or "diet plan." Foster added that WW also insists on avoiding moral language, such as the terms "cheat," "excuseproof," or "good/bad." Although many people may use such language to describe lapses in health behaviors or to characterize eating plans or individual foods, he stressed that WW refuses to endorse language that contributes to stereotypes and reinforces weight-based stigma. Self-criticism derails a weight-loss journey, Foster declared, adding that relapse prevention begins with a fundamental belief in one's self-worth, along with self-compassion and realistic expectations about imperfection.
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From page 36... ...
Understanding a group's culture helps communicators appreciate how values influence that group's beliefs and behaviors, he began, and he emphasized a shift from pushing messages into the market to engaging p eople in a collective, co-designed experience. According to Garcia, this process involves focused definitions of the target audience and the desired behavior; empathy with the target audience; and constant iteration of designing, testing, and refining messages.
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From page 37... ...
Lastly, he noted that technology's exponential growth has given way to a largely decentralized world, creating an unprecedented opportunity for engaging new collaborators to be part of "swarm intelligence," that is, cross-functional collaboration that uses design thinking to create and iterate solutions across a networked system. MESSAGING TO LOCAL, STATE, AND NATIONAL POLICY MAKERS Marla Hollander, national partnerships manager for Voices for Healthy Kids, a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, discussed messaging to government officials as it relates to the initiative's efforts to advance public policy changes that create healthier community settings where kids live, learn, and play.
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From page 38... ...
Hollander went on to i llustrate inclusive language, such as preferring "people living in the United States" over "Americans" or "citizens." She added that describing the goal of helping children grow up at a healthy weight and in healthy communities is more effective than talking about preventing childhood obesity, as is using a gain-based frame instead of focusing on what is at risk of being lost. Turning to ways for advocates to deliver messages to policy makers, Hollander stated that a good technique is to identify issues and solutions together as a community, then customize the messages accordingly.
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From page 39... ...
Copyright Voices for Healthy Kids, American Heart Association. Reprinted with permission.
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From page 40... ...
Clayton listed the assessment's three focus areas: promotion of healthy food service guidelines and healthy food retail practices; new or improved p edestrian, bicycle, or transportation systems; and improved physical activity and nutrition standards in early care and education settings. The assessment was multipronged and qualitative, she continued, and included a literature review to assess how evidence is used by policy makers and identify the messages and values that have been used to drive policy decisions; interviews with key informants, such as state health department leaders, public health advocates, and legislators; and focus groups of local leaders in public health, political administration, and business.
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From page 41... ...
Clayton confirmed that state legislators look to data, but they place greater value on state, regional, and local data than on national data. State health departments are considered credible conveners of diverse partners and sources of expertise for implementing healthy-eating and active-living initiatives, she continued, but obesity prevention is a lower priority than other pressing legislative issues that compete for funding, and declining state revenues compound funding challenges.
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From page 42... ...
These informants pointed out that they can obtain data from the state health department and then convey the messages that health department employees cannot, she explained, because of the limitations on a state health agency. Hollander added that employees can wear multiple hats, and can speak as individual community citizens to alert legislators to an issue of concern and direct them to data sources.
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From page 43... ...
Local authorities valued the state health department's participation, she reported, explaining that its presence manifested in such outcomes as increased attendance at local coalition meetings and the availability of data and expertise for helping to design and evaluate the impact of local healthy-eating and active-living policies. The latter is particularly helpful in states with large rural areas, Clayton noted, where expertise and data are often lacking at the local level.
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From page 44... ...
She referenced her initiative's work with the transportation community to integrate health into the broader transit discussion, noting that the relationship with transportation has been cultivated over time by many other public health stakeholders. Clayton mentioned the success of an NACDD model that supports state health agency staff in convening diverse stakeholders from the health, business, nonprofit, and government sectors to develop goals, objectives, and measures for chronic disease issues.
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From page 45... ...
Hollander expressed support for both approaches, elaborating that personal stories shared in broader message frames draw attention to societal and community issues. She also pointed out that people look to WW for individual help, which entails different considerations for messaging.
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