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Campaign Period (campaign + period)
Selected AbstractsAn evaluation of a heroin overdose prevention and education campaignDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 1 2010DANIELLE HORYNIAK Abstract Introduction and Aims. Following detection of an upward trend in the frequency of fatal heroin overdoses in Victoria between 2001 and 2003, Victoria's Department of Human Services planned a campaign aimed at increasing injecting drug users' (IDU) awareness of overdose risks and prevention strategies. Stickers, wallet cards and posters featuring five key messages were distributed via needle and syringe programs (NSP) and other drug and alcohol services between November 2005 and April 2006. An evaluation of the campaign was commissioned to be conducted in late 2006. Design and Methods. The evaluation consisted of analysis of three independent data sets,,quantitative data collected from IDU during the campaign period (n = 855 at baseline; and a range of 146,656 at follow up); qualitative interviews with IDU who were NSP clients during the campaign period (n = 16) and qualitative interviews with NSP staff and other key stakeholders (n = 9). Results. While key experts felt that the campaign messages had engendered lasting impact for at least some IDU, these positive impressions were not borne out by the NSP client data, with less than one quarter of all campaign messages being mentioned by a significantly higher proportion of clients during the post-campaign period compared with baseline. Key experts perceived the greatest weakness of the campaign to be the delay between issue identification and the introduction of campaign materials. Discussion and Conclusions. While IDU are generally responsive to health promotion campaigns, future initiatives in this domain should be designed and implemented rapidly and in ways that are sufficiently flexible to cope with shifts in drug markets which could influence the reception of key messages.[Horyniak D, Higgs P, Lewis J, Winter R, Dietze P, Aitken C. An evaluation of a heroin overdose prevention and education campaign. Drug Alcohol Rev 2009] [source] 4D-Var assimilation of MERIS total column water-vapour retrievals over landTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 644 2009Peter Bauer Abstract Experiments with the active assimilation of total column water-vapour retrievals from Envisat MERIS observations have been performed at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), focusing on the summer 2006 African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) field campaign period. A mechanism for data quality control, observation error definition and variational bias correction has been developed so that the data can be safely treated within 4D-Var, like other observations that are currently assimilated in the operational system. While data density is limited due to the restriction to daylight and cloud-free conditions, a systematic impact on mean moisture analysis was found, with distinct regional and seasonal features. The impact can last 1--2 days into the forecast but has little effect on forecast accuracy in terms of both moisture and dynamics. This is mainly explained by the weak dynamic activity in the areas of largest data impact. Analysis and short-range forecast evaluation with radiosonde observations revealed a strong dependence on radiosonde type. Compared with Vaisala RS92 observations, the addition of MERIS total column water-vapour observations produced neutral to positive impact, while contradictory results were obtained when all radiosonde types were used in generating the statistics. This highlights the issue of radiosonde moisture biases and the importance of sonde humidity bias correction in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Mammography screening participation: effects of a media campaign targeting Italian-speaking womenAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2005Andrew Page Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a radio and newspaper campaign encouraging Italian-speaking women aged 50,69 years to attend a population-based mammography screening program. Methods: A series of radio scripts and newspaper advertisements ran weekly in the Italian-language media over two, four-week periods. Monthly mammography screens were analysed to determine if numbers of Italian-speaking women in the program increased during the two campaign periods, using interrupted time series regression analysis. A survey of Italian-speaking women attending BreastScreen NSW during the campaign period (n=240) investigated whether individuals had heard or seen the advertisements. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the number of initial or subsequent mammograms in Italian-speaking women between the campaign periods and the period prior to (or after) the campaign. Twenty per cent of respondents cited the Italian media campaign as a prompt to attend. Fifty per cent had heard the radio ad and 30% had seen the newspaper ad encouraging Italian-speaking women to attend BSNSW. The most common prompt to attend was the BSNSW invitation letter, followed by information or recommendation from a GP. Conclusion: Radio and newspaper advertisements developed for the Italian community did not significantly increase attendance to BSNSW. Implications: Measures of program effectiveness based on self-report may not correspond to aggregate screening behaviour. The development of the media campaign in conjunction with the Italian community, and the provision of appropriate levels of resourcing, did not ensure the media campaign's success. [source] Reduction in Ambulance Transports during a Public Awareness Campaign for Appropriate Ambulance UseACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 3 2008Kenji Ohshige MD Abstract Objectives:, This study aimed to characterize the change in the upward trend in monthly ambulance transports that occurred during a citywide campaign for appropriate ambulance use. This study also investigated whether the number of ambulance transports for individuals with nonserious conditions decreased separately from the decrease in ambulance transports for individuals with serious conditions. Methods:, A retrospective time series survey was carried out on the number of ambulance transports that occurred per month over a 10-year period (1997,2006). This study focused on individuals transported by ambulance because of illness. Seasonal decomposition was applied to adjust for the seasonal effect on ambulance transport. The shift in the trend during the campaign period (April 2005,December 2006) was examined by means of linear regression analysis. Results:, The number of individuals transported by ambulance decreased during the campaign period. A decrease in the number of ambulance transports was observed for both nonserious and serious conditions. During the campaign period, the number of ambulance transports per month was estimated to have decreased by 530 (approximately 7%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = ,729 to ,331) for individuals with nonserious conditions and by 37 (approximately 8%; 95% CI = ,53 to ,22) for individuals with serious conditions. Conclusions:, A campaign to educate the public on appropriate ambulance use may reduce ambulance calls for both nonserious and serious conditions. [source] Mammography screening participation: effects of a media campaign targeting Italian-speaking womenAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2005Andrew Page Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a radio and newspaper campaign encouraging Italian-speaking women aged 50,69 years to attend a population-based mammography screening program. Methods: A series of radio scripts and newspaper advertisements ran weekly in the Italian-language media over two, four-week periods. Monthly mammography screens were analysed to determine if numbers of Italian-speaking women in the program increased during the two campaign periods, using interrupted time series regression analysis. A survey of Italian-speaking women attending BreastScreen NSW during the campaign period (n=240) investigated whether individuals had heard or seen the advertisements. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the number of initial or subsequent mammograms in Italian-speaking women between the campaign periods and the period prior to (or after) the campaign. Twenty per cent of respondents cited the Italian media campaign as a prompt to attend. Fifty per cent had heard the radio ad and 30% had seen the newspaper ad encouraging Italian-speaking women to attend BSNSW. The most common prompt to attend was the BSNSW invitation letter, followed by information or recommendation from a GP. Conclusion: Radio and newspaper advertisements developed for the Italian community did not significantly increase attendance to BSNSW. Implications: Measures of program effectiveness based on self-report may not correspond to aggregate screening behaviour. The development of the media campaign in conjunction with the Italian community, and the provision of appropriate levels of resourcing, did not ensure the media campaign's success. [source] | ||||||||||