ABSTRACT
Objective Self-management education (SME) refers to educational interventions that help individuals with chronic diseases maintain or improve their quality of life. To help increase SME participation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted audience research to assess feasibility of a campaign to market SME as a chronic disease management strategy and increase future receptivity to specific SME programs. Methods Twenty focus groups were conducted in 3 rounds across 8 cities with men and women ages 45-75 with a variety of, or multiple, chronic conditions. Data were analyzed to identify cross-cutting themes and assess differences by sex, race/ethnicity, and location. Results Findings revealed that although people with chronic disease are not aware of SME, it is feasible to deliver motivating messages about SME, and content need not be condition- or intervention-specific. Concepts viewed most positively by focus groups incorporated positive tone, empowering language, specific references to health, relatable images, and a website for more information. Conclusion This qualitative work suggests SME marketing strategies will be most effective by providing background information, framing messages positively, using clear relatable language, and making it easy for potential participants to find a program.
Subject(s)
Chronic Disease/therapy , Health Promotion , Marketing of Health Services , Patient Education as Topic , Self-Management/methods , Aged , Feasibility Studies , Female , Focus Groups , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Qualitative ResearchABSTRACT
The availability of a well-established immunization registry to provide vaccination information, a school-located vaccination campaign followed by continued 2009 influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) activity, and a requirement to report hospitalized influenza cases provided an opportunity to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) of an initial dose of pH1N1 monovalent vaccine in children aged 7 months-9 years. Seventy-eight case children and 729 date-of-birth- and zipcode-matched controls were studied. The VE of a single vaccine dose in preventing pH1N1 hospitalization ≥ 14 days after vaccination was 82% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0%-100%; P = .04) in children aged 3-9 years but was zero (-3%; 95% CI, <0%-75%) in children aged 7-35 months. These findings are consistent with those from prelicensure immunogenicity studies and have implications for interpretation of immunogenicity studies and setting priorities for vaccination of young children in future pandemics. Immunization registries can provide a simple, rapid assessment of VE to evaluate and inform vaccination policy.
