Health Campaign
A health campaign is an important foundation of public health and individual wellbeing. It facilitates communication and widespread awareness among the people. It is also essential in ensuring a good quality of life by promoting good health and advocating for the implementation of disease prevention strategies (Hutchinson & Wheeler, 2006). There is, therefore, a need to utilize evaluation and research techniques to have ensured quality health campaigns most cost-effectively.
In developing an evaluation plan for a health campaign, one must ensure that the goals of the program are stated clearly in the plan. For instance, the main objectives of health campaigns are to educate and change the behaviours of people. Besides, an evaluation plan must establish the intended audience because efforts have to be directed to a particular group of people and not to an entire population to ensure that the program is effective (Noar, 2007). Also, assessing one’s budget and resources is important to ensure the availability of enough funds. Another issue that is crucial in developing an evaluation plan for a health campaign is determining the message and the media of communicating that message (Marren et al., 2018). It is important to be certain of the message that would touch the audience and persuade them to change their behaviors.
Evaluation relates to other fundamental campaign design principles in that it helps planners to have a better understanding of their target audience by conducting thorough research on their behavior and practices. Also, like other campaign design principles, it helps in changing the behavior and attitudes of people by designing creative messages that will attract and persuade a targeted audience (Beech & Leather, 2006). The evaluation of campaigns, however, is a complex procedure and faces some challenges in its implementation. Despite this, its effects are practical and can be determined and measured by the use of analysis methods, such as the cost-benefit analysis.
Evaluating campaigns in terms of cost is critical in ensuring that greater health benefits are achieved using limited financial assets. Also, considering that most organizations face the problem of limited funds, there is a need to evaluate campaigns and ensure that the little resources available are not misappropriated (Edejer et al., 2012). Although there exists a challenge of getting the costs estimates and ascertaining how the campaign has been effective in achieving its purpose, its importance cannot be overlooked.
To have an effective evaluation plan for a group’s campaign proposal, some variables should be considered. For instance, dividing the audience according to basic characteristics, such as age, race, gender and behavior, will contribute to the success of the campaign program (Noar, 2007). The campaign proposal may choose to focus its program on the youths and address the issues that put this group at risks, such as drug abuse and violence. The proposal, therefore, will highlight the ways that would persuade the youths and capture their attention.
It is essential to ascertain what would happen to health care systems if practitioners paid more attention to the evaluation process. Also worth paying attention to is the role of research in ensuring that an evaluation of a health campaign is successful. That being said, it is important to ensure that the evaluation process of health campaigns is effective for the success of any campaign program.