Understanding Audience Barriers, Benefits, and the Competition; Health Communications Social Marketing for Health Populations Practice Lab
Background
72.2% of high school (H.S.) students do not get the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep on school nights, increasing their risk for chronic health problems. Also, students who get less than the recommended amount of sleep are more likely to have poor academic performance due to difficulty paying attention in school and behavioral issues (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2019). It is important to note that the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) (n.d.) reports a decrease in H.S. students who get sufficient sleep from 25.4% in 2017 to 22.1% in 2019. Ensuring that H.S. students get adequate rest will improve school performance and health outcomes.
Key Study Questions
- What are the perceived barriers that the audience may have when adopting the desired behavior?
- What are the key perceived benefits the target audience wants in exchange for performing the desired behavior?
- What does the target audience say will make it more likely to do the behavior?
- What are the major competing alternative behaviors?
- What are the benefits the audience will associate with the competing behaviors?
- What are the costs the audience will associate with the competing behaviors?
Method
The practice lab first requires the identification of a public health problem, a target audience, and a behavioral objective to analyze barriers, benefits, and competing behaviors. The behavioral objective is the behavior that the project team would like to achieve to improve the public health problem. For this lab, the public health problem and target audience the team identified are insufficient sleep among H.S. students. The behavioral objective is to increase the number of H.S. students aged 13-18 that receive the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep each night (CDC, 2020).
The team identified perceived barriers to H.S. students to achieve 8-10 hours of sleep each night as:
- Schoolwork; homework
- School organized extra-curricular activities
- Employment
- Socialization with friends and peers, either in-person or virtually
- At-home responsibilities
The team identified the following perceived benefits for H.S. students engaging in 8-10 hours of sleep per night:
- Improved academic performance, mental health, self-esteem, and mood
- Stress reduction
- Better coping skills, weight management
- Enhanced overall health
The Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability (MOA) model posits that motivation, opportunity, and ability can predict a person’s behavior and identify interventions that produce behavior change (Resnick & Siegal, 2013). The team examines potential motivations for engaging in the desired behavior; however, to ensure that the social marketing message is effective with the target audience, the team would gather qualitative data from focus groups and quantitative data from surveys. However, current research indicates that teenagers understand the importance of getting enough sleep and desire to change their sleeping behaviors (Paterson et al., 2019). The team felt that potential motivators could include some of the perceived benefits that H.S. may be aware of when they engage in the recommended amount of sleep. Motivation to engage in the desired behavior would not only improve school performance, coping skills, and mood, but H.S. students may also see an increase in free time due to increased productivity during school hours.
The team identified significant competing behaviors to the desired behavior, such as:
- Academic and school-related activities, such as student organizations and sports
- Maintaining close interpersonal relationships
- Fear of “missing something important” or “being out of the loop” when engaged in social media sites
- Hobbies or relaxing activities such as watching television
- Employment obligations
The benefits that H.S. students associate with engaging in the competing behaviors include:
- Finishing schoolwork and homework by staying up late
- Earning money from employment
- Enhanced social life and acceptance by peers
- Perception of increased enjoyment in the completing behaviors
The costs or barriers associated with engaging in the competing behaviors include:
- Limiting social life or changes in social status
- Becoming worn out, more sluggish, and losing focus
- Developing a chronic illness
- Declining mental health status
Findings
While H.S. students know the importance of getting a “good night” rest and indicate that they would like to improve their sleeping habits, the team notes that there may be several perceived barriers and costs in initiating the new behavior. Reviewing perceived and actual benefits, barriers, and costs associated with H.S. students engaging in the recommended number of sleep hours reveals that social marketing messages and campaigns will need to focus on adverse outcomes of insufficient sleep patterns. Also, messaging will highlight the positive outcomes of engaging in the target behavior. In addition to health education messaging, the campaign will need to address barriers by engaging with key stakeholders to increase efficacy in initiating and maintaining the behavior.
Recommendations
The CDC has several recommendations for schools, parents, and healthcare professionals to promote and encourage adequate sleep among H.S. students. Social marketing and health communication campaigns should attempt to incorporate this recommendation while tailoring the message to the unique characteristics of the target audience. Schools should incorporate educational components on the importance of sleep and sleep disorders within the general education curriculum, review school start times, and implement later start times to promote sleep among H.S. students (CDC, 2019). Parents can improve sleep among their H.S. students by modeling good sleep habits such as setting a regular bedtime and adhering to a media curfew (CDC, 2019). Finally, medical care professionals can educate the health effects of insufficient sleep and discuss possible contributing factors (CDC, 2019).
Public Health Significance
Getting adequate sleep on school nights can positively affect both academic performance and health outcomes. Promoting good sleep habits during adolescence can carry over into adulthood and sway future social norms. Also, as research has indicated, adequate sleep reduces potential behavioral problems and the inability to pay attention while also decreasing future chronic health conditions. Both outcomes can benefit society by decreasing disease prevalence and increasing economic benefits.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019, May 29). Sleep and health. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/sleep.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, September 10). Sleep in middle and high school students. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/students-sleep.htm
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.) Healthy People 2030 objectives and data. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/sleep/increase-proportion-high-school-students-who-get-enough-sleep-sh-04
Patterson, J. L., Reynolds, A. C., Duncan, M., Vandelanotte, C., & Ferguson, S. A. (2019). Barriers and enablers to modifying sleep behavior in adolescents and young adults: A qualitative investigation. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 17(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2016.1266489
Resnick, E. A., & Siegel, M. (2013). Marketing public health: strategies to promote social change (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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