Impact of the Make Healthy Normal mass media campaign (Phase 1) on knowledge, attitudes and behaviours: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the impact of the first phase of the Make Healthy Normal mass media campaign on NSW adults' active living and healthy eating knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviour.

METHODS

Cohort design with NSW adults, followed up three times over 12 months, with n=939 participants completing all three waves. We used generalised linear mixed models to examine campaign awareness, knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviours over time.

RESULTS

Campaign recognition built to a reasonable level (45% at Wave 3), although unprompted recall was low (9% at Wave 3). There were significant increases in knowledge of physical activity recommendations (46% to 50%), the health effects of obesity (52% to 64%), and weight loss benefits (53% to 65%), with stronger effects in campaign recognisers. Conversely, we found declines in self-efficacy and intention to increase physical activity (39% to 31%) and decrease soft drink consumption (31% to 24%).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, there are some positives for the campaign but intentions need to be a focus of future campaign phases. Continued investment over the medium- to long-term is needed.

IMPLICATIONS

Mass media campaigns can play a role in obesity prevention but robust evaluations are needed to identify the characteristics of effective campaigns.