HSBH1012 · Introduction to Health and Health Care
Health Promotion & Campaigns
Week 5 of University of Sydney HSBH1012 turns to changing behaviour at population scale: the difference between public health and health promotion, social marketing and the 4 Ps, the FLOWPROOF planning protocol, McGuire's hierarchy-of-effects model of how a mass-media message works, and the evidence for when campaigns actually change behaviour. This week directly feeds the 20% group presentation (pitch a health-promotion campaign) and the 25% SAQ, and its reading (Gore & Kothari, 2013) is in the reflection-exam pool.
What this chapter covers
- 01Public health vs health promotion; three areas of action (individual programs, conducive environments, policy/environmental focus)
- 02Social marketing and the 4 Ps: place, price, product, promotion (Evans, 2006)
- 03FLOWPROOF — a best-practice mass-media campaign protocol (formative research, logic model, objectives, well-resourced, process evaluation, run it, on-the-ground support, outcomes, financial evaluation)
- 04McGuire hierarchy of effects: Awareness → Knowledge → Saliency → Attitudes → Self-efficacy → Intention → Behaviour → maintained behaviour
- 05How mass media works (Wakefield et al., 2010): primes knowledge/attitudes/beliefs then behaviour; needs sustained exposure
- 06Success factors: complement concurrent policy change, high population exposure/intensity, multiple channels, no competing product marketing
- 07Nine design points (integrated approach, consistent national messaging, explicit theory, measurable goals, public evaluations, sustained multi-year effort)
- 08Case campaigns: Dark Side of Tanning, tobacco Quitline uplift, AIDS Grim Reaper, Slip-Slop-Slap
Applied: design a flu-vaccination campaign with the Week 5 frameworks
- +2(a) FLOWPROOF spine: start with Formative research (what do older adults believe about the flu vaccine?), build a Logic model/theory, set measurable Objectives, ensure it is Well-resourced with partners (GPs, pharmacies), plan Process evaluation, Run the campaign on a media schedule (TARPs), add On-the-ground support (clinics), measure Outcomes, and do a Financial/summative evaluation.
- +2(b) Map the message to McGuire's funnel: Awareness (flu is dangerous this year) → Knowledge (free vaccine, where to get it) → Saliency/Attitudes (it matters for me) → Self-efficacy (I can easily book) → Intention → Behaviour (get vaccinated) → maintained behaviour (return next year).
- +1(c) Apply the success factors (Wakefield et al., 2010): reach high population exposure and intensity with sufficient funding, run across multiple channels, and — crucially — complement it with concurrent policy (free vaccination, GP reminders) rather than messaging alone.
- +1(c cont.) Note the evidence limits: effects linger over days-weeks but fade over months, so seed the message continuously across the four weeks and pre-test materials before launch; avoid competing with strong product marketing.
Key terms
- Health promotion
- Action to enable people and communities to increase control over and improve their health — broader than clinical care, including individual programs, supportive environments, and policy/environmental change.
- Social marketing / 4 Ps
- Applying commercial-marketing logic to health behaviour using the 4 Ps — place, price, product, promotion — through a plan-select-pretest-implement-evaluate process (Evans, 2006).
- FLOWPROOF
- A best-practice protocol for planning, running and evaluating mass-media campaigns (Grunseit et al., 2016): formative research, logic model, objectives, well-resourced, process evaluation, run it, on-the-ground support, outcomes, financial evaluation.
- McGuire hierarchy of effects
- A funnel model of how a mass-media message works: Awareness → Knowledge → Saliency → Attitudes/beliefs → Self-efficacy → Intention → Behaviour → maintained behaviour.
- Mass-media success factors (Wakefield et al., 2010)
- Campaigns work better when they complement concurrent policy change, reach high population exposure/intensity, run across multiple channels, and don't compete with strong product marketing; effects linger days-weeks but fade over months.
- TARPs
- Target Audience Rating Points — a measure of a campaign's media weight/exposure, used to schedule and track how intensively a message reaches its audience.
Health Promotion & Campaigns FAQ
What is the difference between public health and health promotion?
Public health is the broad science of protecting and improving community health through prevention, policy and research. Health promotion is one of its main tools — enabling people and communities to increase control over their health — and it operates across three areas: individual-change programs, creating supportive environments, and policy/environmental action. Week 5 focuses on the campaign end of health promotion and how to design one that actually changes behaviour.
How does the McGuire hierarchy explain why a campaign works?
McGuire's hierarchy of effects treats behaviour change as a funnel: a message must first create Awareness, then Knowledge, Saliency and Attitudes, then Self-efficacy and Intention, before it produces Behaviour and finally maintained behaviour. Each stage loses some of the audience, which is why campaigns need high exposure and clear calls to action. Mapping your campaign message to these stages is a high-yield exam and presentation skill.
What makes a mass-media health campaign effective?
Wakefield et al. (2010) show campaigns work best when they complement concurrent policy change (not messaging alone), achieve high population exposure and intensity with adequate funding, run across multiple channels, and are not drowned out by competing product marketing. Messages must be research-based and pre-tested, and because effects fade over months, exposure needs to be sustained and continuously seeded. These success factors are the evidence backbone of the week.
Can AI help me design a health-promotion campaign for HSBH1012?
Yes. Sia can walk you through FLOWPROOF, map your message to the McGuire hierarchy, apply the mass-media success factors, and critique a practice campaign for your group presentation or SAQ. It explains the frameworks and checks your reasoning step by step; it will not produce your graded presentation or written answer, and University of Sydney academic-integrity rules apply.
Exam move
Treat Week 5 as your toolkit for the 20% group presentation and the 25% SAQ, not just exam content. Memorise three frameworks you can deploy on any campaign: FLOWPROOF (the planning spine), the McGuire hierarchy (the message ladder), and the Wakefield success factors (the evidence check). Practise applying all three to a fresh brief — flu vaccination, sun safety, sugary drinks — in a few tight paragraphs, always naming the framework. For the reflection exam, draft a reflection on Gore & Kothari (2013) linking campaign design back to the social-determinants idea that upstream conditions shape behaviour. Ask Sia to give you a campaign brief and coach you through the frameworks and the presentation panel criteria.
Working through Health Promotion & Campaigns in HSBH1012? Sia is AskSia’s AI Health Sciences tutor — ask any HSBH1012 Health Promotion & Campaigns question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how HSBH1012 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
