Promoting Healthy Diets and Active Lifestyles to Lower-SES Adults. MarketResearch for Public Education

摘要

This report presents the findings of a study that was undertaken to understandbetter how members of the hard-to-reach American public perceive health and the role of diet, exercise, and weight control in the prevention of certain chronic diseases. Market research techniques--focus group discussions and an analysis of commercial market data on media use and leisure practices--were used to gather data that could be applied to the design of health communication programs. The target population for study was identified as the nearly one-third of the adult public whose lower socioeconomic status (SES) and higher risk profile cause them to experience a disparity in health status with the general population. The study concluded that if health communication efforts are to have a sustained impact, then a unified approach should be taken that reinforces sound choices--making a healthy diet and active lifestyle the norm for the 1990s.