The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #64667

Stephanie Barrett Shapiro, MPH¹, Elena D. Quintana, PhD², Tim Metzger, MUPP³, Cody D. Stephens, MA³, and Gary Slutkin, MD³. (1) Epi Bio, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 West Taylor Street, M/C 923, Rm. 1021, Chicago, IL 60612, 312-996-9460, sshapi5@uic.edu, (2) University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, 2121 West Taylor (M/C 922), Chicago, IL 60612, (3) University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention/CeaseFire, 1603 W. Taylor, Chicago, IL 60612

Public Education campaigns are an essential component in creating a comprehensive health program to change behaviors and norms. Effective public health communications develop messages that promote the health behavior, use multiple channels, and have high levels of audience exposure. The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention (CeaseFire) utilizes a grass-roots public education campaign and outreach to challenge existing beliefs and behaviors related to violence in six Chicago communities. The messaging focuses on changing norms and behaviors about shooting, and promoting specific alternatives to violence. This paper examines intensity of public education distribution, and follows changes in awareness of violence prevention efforts, visibility of messaging, and changes in number of shootings. Since 2000, the Project has distributed over 600,000 public education materials in these six communities. The community with the largest distribution has been West Garfield Park, which received 62,727 materials in 2001 and 80,861 in 2002. Awareness of violence prevention activities increased in West Garfield Park from 5.8% in 2001 to 16.9% in 2002 (p=.01). This community also received the largest number of outreach workers, and saw the greatest decrease in shootings (67%). Messaging and outreach occurred at varying levels of intensity within the six communities. Therefore, it is possible to compare levels of distribution and awareness of violence prevention and draw conclusions regarding the relationship between dosage and success. Although the public education campaign was implemented only three years ago, preliminary data shows success in the community that received the greatest public education distribution in concert with a strong outreach component.

Learning Objectives:

• 1) To explore the importance of public education campaigns in relation to violence prevention.
• 2) To understand the level of public education needed to heighten community awareness.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employed by organization