National Conf on Health Communication, Marketing and Media

Great notes from the CDC National Conference on Health Communication Marketing and Media by Nedra Weinreich at Spare Change

Thanks Kristi for the link. There are some great concepts here to chase down:

Michael Rovito, Temple University - For the issue of testicular cancer, he used perceptual mapping to identify four different types of "control identities" related to locus of control (whether people believed control was external or internal) and constructs of whether control is realistic or unrealistic. The four types were: 1) The Fates - unrealistic external; 2) The Herd - realistic external; 3) The Optimals - realistic internal; and 4) The Manipulators - unrealistic internal. Clearly, different types of people need different kinds of messages tailored to their beliefs.

Sergey Sotnikov, CDC - By mapping out the relationships between either organizations or people within an organization, you can use network analysis to visualize the key points within the network. You can look at who is most connected overall, who are the go-betweens on specific topics, and who is more isolated. This can help you figure out the best way to spread information within a network.

Tons of interesting stuff there. Just the thing for loosening up a blocked mind. But more than that, this is exactly the kind of thinking we need to be involved with. What is the barrier? Too much reactionary type work? No budget to attend these kinds of conferences and therefore not network or share these ideas?