ABSTRACT
There are calls for innovation in health promotion and for current issues to be presented in new and exciting ways; in addition to creating engaging messages, novel ways to deliver health messaging are needed, especially where youth are the key target audience. When pupils in WHO Health Promoting Schools were asked what health messages would resonate with them, they also identified celebrities as the 'messengers' they would be particularly likely to listen to. Expanding on these discussions, the pupils quoted celebrity-recorded music videos containing health and lifestyle messaging as an example of where they had learned from celebrities. Their ability to sing phrases from the songs and repeat key health messages they contained indicated the videos had commanded attention and provided knowledge and perspectives that had been retained. We located on YouTube the video titles the pupils identified and evaluated the content, messaging and production concepts these celebrity-recorded music videos incorporated. All are good examples of the health promotion genre known as education entertainment, where educational content is intentionally included in professionally produced entertainment media to impart knowledge, create favorable attitudes and impact future behaviors. The importance of this genre is growing in parallel with the burgeoning influence of social media. Music videos resonate with youth, and celebrity recordings combine young people's love of music with their fascination for the aura of celebrity. Hence, producing videos that combine an effective health message with celebrity endorsement offers potential as an innovative conduit for health promotion messaging among youth.
Subject(s)
Health Promotion/methods , Music , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Life Style , Male , Uganda , Video RecordingABSTRACT
A challenge for implementing DOHaD-defined health promotion is how to engage the at-risk population. The WHO Health Promoting School (HPS) model has proven success engaging youth and improving health behaviors. Hence, we introduced DOHaD concepts to 151 pupils aged 12-15 years in three HPS programs in rural Uganda, inquired what factors would make DOHaD-related health promotion resonate with them, and discussed how they recommended making learning about DOHaD acceptable to youth. Economic factors were judged the most compelling; with nutrition and responsive care elements next in importance. Suggested approaches included: teach how good health is beneficial, what works and why, and give tools to use to achieve it, and make information positive rather than linked to later harm. Involve youth in making DOHaD learning happen, make being a parent sound interesting, and include issues meaningful to boys. These are the first data from youth charged with addressing their engagement in the DOHaD agenda.
Subject(s)
Health Behavior , Health Promotion/organization & administration , Life Style , Rural Health , School Health Services/organization & administration , Adolescent , Child , Economics , Female , Health Promotion/methods , Humans , Male , UgandaABSTRACT
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the burden of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) is largely unknown. The estimated incidence of TSCI in LMICs is 25.5/million/year, and the impact on affected patients and their families is presumed to be immense due to the social structure, limited health system resources and reliance on family to care for those that survive injury to return home. In sub-Saharan Africa, extrapolated regional figures for incidence range from 21 - 29/million/year, and the occurrence of a spinal injury is likely to be fatal within a year.
