Sandra Jones

Breast cancer detection messages in Australian print media advertising - are they promoting correct information?

Sandra Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:58 PST

With breast cancer now the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the western world, correct information about detection and treatment is vitally important. The media are often accused of conveying inaccurate information in their editorial coverage of health issues, but few studies have examined the accuracy of information in media advertising. In this study of breast cancer detection ads in Australian magazines and newspapers, many instances of misleading information were found. As the print media have a major influence on women's health beliefs, these findings have serious implications for health communication policy regarding socially responsible advertising.

Disease awareness advertising: women's intentions following exposure

Danika Hall et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:53 PST

Background: In Australia, where direct to consumer advertising of prescription medicines is prohibited, pharmaceutical companies can sponsor disease awareness advertising targeting consumers. This study examined the impact of disease awareness advertising exposure on older women's reported behavioural intentions. Method: Women were approached in a shopping centre and randomly assigned mock advertisements for two health conditions. Disease information and sponsors were manipulated. Results: Two hundred and forty-one women responded to 466 advertisements. Almost half reported an intention to ask their doctor for a prescription or referral as a result of seeing the advertisement, but more reported they would talk to their doctor and ask about treatments and tests. Participants were more likely to report an intention to ask for prescriptions if they perceived the health condition to be severe and themselves susceptible or if they had viewed advertisements containing limited information on the disease. Discussion: Disease awareness advertising may stimulate demand for prescription medicine products. This has serious implications for general practitioners and regulators

Alcohol energy drinks: is it time for the alcohol industry to demonstrate some corporate social responsibility?

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:48 PST

There is increasing evidence of association between AEDs and both increased alcohol consumption and increased alcohol-related harm. Australia lags behind other countries in researching and regulating (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) energy drinks. Twelve focus groups were conducted with 12-17 year olds in a capital city, regional city and rural city in NSW, Australia. AEDs were popular among teenagers in urban, regional and rural areas of NSW. Adolescents liked AEDs because they provide increased energy while allowing them to feel the effects of alcohol, and because of their similarity to non-alcohol energy drinks and soft drinks. Given the industry’s stated position on corporate social responsibility, it would seem timely to reconsider the appropriateness of producing and marketing these products.

Older adults' perceptions and understanding of direct-to-consumer advertising.

Sandra C. Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:42 PST

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate older consumers' perceptions of the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), their views on the amount and type of information that should be provided, and their understanding of information typically contained. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 97 adult members of a social/education group, aged 55 to 87, who completed a questionnaire during the group's usual weekly meeting. There were four versions of the questionnaire; two types of medication (arthritis versus diabetes) and two ad formats (short versus long). Findings – There was little difference between the versions in the accuracy of participants' recall of key pieces of information, suggesting that providing additional information may convey little additional benefit. Participants reported limited perceived benefits of DTCA, and expressed concern that DTCA may cause people to ask their doctor for inappropriate medicines, rely more on medicines to solve their health, and become more confused. Practical implications – This study suggests that there is a need to consider consumers' perceptions of benefits and costs of DTCA when deciding whether to introduce it (e.g. in Australia) or remove it (e.g. New Zealand). Further, at least for older consumers, providing large quantities of information may increase cognitive demands without producing additional benefits. Originality/value – The majority of previous studies of DTCA have used either student samples (with manipulated salience of information) or general population surveys. This study utilised a sample of older adults, including 55 per cent with arthritis and 13 per cent with diabetes. Further, as this study used US ads with an Australian population, one can be confident that participants' knowledge of the medications was purely from the ads read and not from previous exposure.

Point-of-sale alcohol promotions in the Perth and Sydney metropolitan areas

Sandra C. Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:37 PST

There is considerable evidence that reducing the price of alcohol increases the amount consumed, particularly among young people. However, there is an absence of research on other point-of-sale (POS) alcohol marketing strategies - such as those that ‘reward’ purchasers with free gifts. The purpose of the present study was to document the nature and extent of POS alcohol promotions in bottle shops in two Australian capital cities. An audit tool was developed and point-of-sale promotions were found to be ubiquitous, with 416 promotions identified across 24 audits (an average of 17.3 promotions per outlet; 19.8 in Sydney and 14.9 in Perth). The most concerning finding was that these promotions appear to provide an incentive for (young) consumers to increase their purchase quantity.

Methodological difficulties in a systematic review of social marketing for sun protection: implications for research and practice

Sandra C. Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:32 PST

This paper reports on a systematic review of all published skin cancer primary prevention interventions aimed at improving the sun protection of children and adolescents, from 1980 to 2005. This was undertaken to inform the development of future social marketing campaigns for the prevention of skin cancer. Rather than reporting the findings of the review, in terms of conclusions drawn about the effectiveness of interventions, this paper focuses on the systematic review process itself - identifying and discussing the methodological difficulties that arose in conducting this review. These difficulties, from lack of information on the development and theoretical background of interventions through to lack of sufficient data to quantify study outcomes, severely limit our ability to draw conclusions as to the relative effectiveness of different types of programs. There is a need for authors to consistently provide the information that is necessary to enable a systematic comparison of interventions if we are to utilise published research to further our understanding of effective strategies and consequently improve practice.

What do older patients want? Understanding older patients' attitudes towards general practice trainees

Andrew D. Bonney et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:26 PST

Context: Older patients constitute an increasing proportion of the caseloads in general practice (GP) training practices, but are relatively reluctant to consult trainees. Understanding their attitudes is a first step in improving older patient-trainee interaction. Objectives: Characterise the attitudes of older patients to GP trainees. Design: Cross-sectional survey; exploratory factor analysis; logistic regression. Setting: Randomised, stratified sample of 38 training practices across five Australian states. Participants: Patients aged 60 years and over (N=911; response rate 47.9%). Instrument: Questionnaire for self-completion: previously piloted and subjected to factor analysis. Main and secondary outcome measures: Identification of attitude factors; patient characteristics predicting high factor scale scores; patient responses predicted by factor scale scores. Results: Cronbach’s ? =.791. Three factors identified: interpersonal trust (IPT); system trust (ST); and interpersonal continuity of care (IPC). Female gender and age >/= 75 predicted high IPT scores [OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.39-2.72, p<001; OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.01-1.96, p=.044]. Female gender and chronic illness predicted high IPC scores [OR 2.88, 95% CI 1.66-5.00, p<.001; OR 2.17, 95% CI 1.93-3.94, p=.011]. Self-rated health score >/= 4/5 predicted high ST scores [OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.38-2.64, p<.001]. High IPT reduced odds of satisfaction with trainees [OR .51, 95% CI .32-.81, p=.004], and both high IPT and IPC reduced odds of comfort with trainee chronic/complex care [OR .61, 95% CI .40-.92, p=.02; OR .31, 95% CI .18-.56, p<.001]. High IPC predicted reduced odds of seeing a trainee more than once or twice [OR .42, 95% CI .24-.74, p= .002]. High ST predicted increased satisfaction with trainees [OR 6.96, 95% CI 4.47-10.83, p<.001]. Conclusions: Three underlying constructs (IPT, ST and IPC) appear important in influencing older patients’ interactions with trainees. Patients with high IPT and/or IPC scores demonstrate significantly reduced acceptance of trainees. Strategies aimed to improve trust and continuity, e.g. shared continuity of care with their regular GP, may improve acceptance for these patients.

Data collected for the National Breast Cancer Centre Breast Health Survey evaluation report

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:21 PST

Contains survey data gathered during the National Breast Cancer Centre Breast Health Survey.

Social marketing survey data for the Cancer Council NSW

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:15 PST

This dataset includes a aocial marketing framework developed for training for Cancer Council NSW. It also includes training presentations and reports and evaluation data and statistics from participant surveys.

Young people's responses to the brand name Headspace: a holistic and youth focused general practice, and exploration of possible alternative names for such a service

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:10 PST

Focus group interviews and survey data from local high school and university students showing youth perceptions and responses to Headspace branding and investigation of alternative branding options. These sudies were done in conjunction with the Illawarra Division of General Practice.

Evaluating the impact of the Dandenong Public Drinking Campaign

Lance R. Barrie et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:04 PST

In 2009, Dandenong launch a campaign targeting drinking in public places using stencils, posters and stickers in community settings and bottle-shops. An evaluation was undertaken and 152 participants completed a survey where elements of the Health Belief Model (HBM) were explored. Over 65% of respondents reported that they had seen at least 4 different advertisements, suggesting that the campaign dissemination was very effective. The campaign had a high recall rate and over 25% of people had either stopped or intended to stop drinking in public places. Overall, awareness of the negative effects of drinking in public increased; however no follow up evaluation has been conducted to determine whether this had a longer-term impact on behaviour.

Data obtained from investigation into asthma awareness and education in the 65+ age group

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:58 PST

Based on health practitioner interviews and older person's surveys, the dataset shows that there was a considerable gap in the asthma-related knowledge and skills of older adults in the Illawarra region. While Health Practitioners acknowledge that asthma is a health issue relevant to older adults, older adults do not perceive asthma as a severe illness or one that is relevant to them. There is a need for broader research to ascertain if the results of this study are representative of older people at a state or national level. Further research into possible cues to action for target group is also required. Application of theoretical models such as social marketing and community education to further explore key themes outlined here would be useful in providing clearer direction for future interventions. This research was undertaken with the support of the Asthma Foundation of New South Wales.

The Conference for General Practice 2009

Andrew D. Bonney et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:52 PST

Objectives The medical literature suggests that older patients may be reluctant to engage general practice registrars in their medical care. This can lead to distortions in the clinical caseload of general practice registrars and dissatisfaction for older patients when seeing general practice registrars. The authors undertook a qualitative study of older patients to investigate their attitudes to having general practice registrars involved in their medical care to address this issue. Methods The study was conducted in three general practice (GP) training practices in southeast NSW, Australia. Appropriate ethics approval was obtained before commencing the research. Reception staff handed patients invitations after the patients’ consultations with either a general practice registrars or one of the established GPs. Thirty-eight patients aged 60 years and over agreed to participate in a semi-structured telephone interview exploring the patients’ responses to the general practice registrars and their opinions on their medical care in general. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a template analysis approach. Results Analysis of the relationships between older patients, their regular doctors and general practice registrars produced five major themes of patient attitude: ‘desire for continuity’, ‘desire for access’, ‘openness’, ‘trust’ and a desire for ‘meaningful communication’. For most patients their interaction with the general practice registrar was viewed in the context of their relationship with their usual GP. Discussion Older patients’ attitudes to general practice registrars cannot be viewed in isolation from their relationships with their regular general practitioners. Older patients invest significant meaning in these long-term doctor-patient relationships. This needs to be taken into account when engaging general practice registrars in the care of older patients. Implications for practice Older patients’ acceptance of general practice registrars may be improved by developing systems to ensure that patients maintain relational and informational continuity with their usual GP. Models of teaching where continuity of care is shared between the GP and general practice registrar may also assist. Further research is required.

Data from workshops to clarify and refine the Cancer Council NSW direction in relation to lifestyle issues

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:46 PST

Contains materials and data provided to TCCN in the form of training workshops to clarify/refine lifestyle issues.

Outcomes of investigation of understanding of standard drink labelling and health messages and effects on drinking intentions

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:42 PST

Focus group participants from a local university investigating young people's feelings and beliefs towards standard drink labelling and health message labelling on alcoholic beverages. University students aged 18-25 years of age.

Process evaluation of an innovative sun protection intervention targeting adolescents

Sandra C. Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:37 PST

The purpose of the current intervention was to target a defined segment of the adolescent population with a sun protection ‘offering’ that positioned sun protection as beneficial and addressed identified barriers (particularly inconvenience and image). A community intervention was conducted in one defined geographic region over the 2009/2010 Summer school holidays. Key elements of the intervention included the distribution of augmented products, promotional materials with a pre-tested impactful message, and partnerships with community and commercial organisations. The intervention was successful in creating interest and attention among adolescents. This paper reports on the process evaluations, focusing on barriers, facilitators and lessons learned.

Social research on potential avian influenza-induced pandemic : minimising public panic

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:30 PST

Participant data from the CATI survey and airport survey on potential avian influenza-induced pandemic conducted on the external public areas of Sydney and Melbourne international airports. Participants data from focus groups recruited via advertisements and recruitment strategies utilised by the market research companies. Telephone interviews and interviews (structured and unstructured) targeting healthy members of the community, adults over 18 years of age.

Asthma self management perceptions and behaviours in adults: qualitative and quantitative results.

Gillian Stillfried et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:25 PST

This dataset results from a project funded by the Asthma Foundation of New South Wales which used social marketing principles to investigate the perceived self-management needs and wants of adult asthmatics in the Illawarra region. To achieve this, a mixture of qualitative (literature review and focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) research methodologies were used. This dataset contains focus group and survey data.

Development and delivery of social marketing workshop for Cancer Council South Australia

Sandra Jones — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:21 PST

This dataset includes a aocial marketing framework developed for training for Cancer Council SA. It also includes training presentations and reports and evaluation data and statistics from participant surveys.

Is experience with one illicit drug associated with perceptions of the believability of anti-drug messages?

Sandra Jones et al. — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:38:17 PST

Cannabis (marijuana) use is on the increase in many countries, particularly among teenagers. Information dissemination is likely to become the main vehicle for minimising the harms associated with cannabis use. Thus there is a clear need to develop informative and convincing communication strategies to target young (potential and incipient) cannabis users. Cognitive dissonance theory, as well as research with warning labels on other products, suggests that young people who currently use cannabis will find the information about cannabis and the infonnation about other drugs (with which they have no experience) less believable than will non-users. This study finds support for the hypothesis regarding cannabis and cocaine, though not heroin.