Health Campaign Development and Evaluation

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, students will have learned about the:

• elements of a state-of-the-art health campaign;
• frameworks and theories for campaign development;
• methods and tools for campaign evaluation.

Course Description

The COVID-19 pandemic once again showed how important it is to design and disseminate effective health campaigns. High-standard health campaigns should be theory-driven and use a translational research and participatory design approach. Their effectiveness should be evaluated using rigorous and systematic research methodologies. This course teaches students about the different elements of an effective health communication campaign that meets the current standards by building on and extending their knowledge of health communication and behavior theories and research methods and by introducing campaign-specific frameworks and advancements, including the RE-AIM framework, or the translational research framework, to name just a few. As such, it equips students with the fundamental knowledge for future activities in public health organizations.

Learning Methods
The course alters synchronous in-class activities with asynchronous online activities. In-class activities include front lectures with discussion of distributed material and ad-hoc tasks to apply newly learned information to different contexts and steps in health campaigning. Asynchronous online activities include self-study with distributed material by the course instructor and a step-by-step advancement of the individual presentation and paper on a fictitious health campaign.

Attendance

Students’ class attendance in aula is requested. If, for substantiated health-related reasons, participation in aula is not possible, students are required study the covered content independently using the material provided by the course instructor online.

Examination Information

The final grade will be composed of:

• 10%: 6 mini online quizzes/assignments on topics covered during the course
• 20%: individual presentation of 15 minutes that introduces a fictitious health campaign developed by the student
• 70%: individual paper (4500-5000 words, excl. index, abstract, and bibliography) that describes in a detailed and structured way the same fictitious campaign, elaborating on each necessary step from the identification of the topic to the evaluation of the campaign’s effectiveness

Required Material

Selected introductory readings (further readings and material will be available on iCorsi):

• Randolph, W., & Viswanath, K. (2004). Lessons learned from public health mass media campaigns: Marketing health in a crowded media world. Annu. Rev. Public Health, 25, 419-437.
• Wakefield, M. A., Loken, B., & Hornik, R. C. (2010). Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour. Lancet, 376(9748), 1261–1271.