Effects of a Televised Two-City Safer Sex Mass Media Campaign Targeting High-Sensation-Seeking and Impulsive-Decision-Making Young Adults
Rick S. Zimmerman, PhD*,
Philip M. Palmgreen, PhD,
Seth M. Noar, PhD,
Mia Liza A. Lustria, PhD,
Hung-Yi Lu, MS,
and
Mary Lee Horosewski, MA
Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rzimmerman{at}pire.org.
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Abstract |
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This study evaluates the ability of a safer sex televised public service announcement (PSA) campaign to increase safer sexual behavior among at-risk young adults. Independent, monthly random samples of 100 individuals were surveyed in each city for 21 months as part of an interrupted-time-series design with a control community. The 3-month high-audience-saturation campaign took place in Lexington, KY, with Knoxville, TN, as a comparison city. Messages were especially designed and selected for the target audience (those above the median on a composite sensation-seeking/impulsive-decision-making scale). Data indicate high campaign exposure among the target audience, with 85%-96% reporting viewing one or more PSAs. Analyses indicate significant 5-month increases in condom use, condom-use self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions among the target group in the campaign city with no changes in the comparison city. The results suggest that a carefully targeted, intensive mass media campaign using televised PSAs can change safer sexual behaviors.
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