Healthy Weight Awareness Campaign

Woman holding scale


Project Description

The award winning Healthy Weight Awareness Campaign (HWAC) is a social marketing campaign created in 2002 to provide Maine parents with information and simple steps to keep their children and families healthy and active. The audience is Maine families eligible to participate in the Maine Food Supplement Program. The USM Muskie School and the Physical Activity, Nutrition and Healthy Weight Program at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) have collaborated on the development, implementation and evaluation of the HWAC. The goal of the HWAC is to reduce Maine’s obesity epidemic by providing specific recommendations for physical activity and nutrition lifestyle changes. Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson, MD, MPH, visited Maine in July 2008 to award the “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future” Champion Award to the Healthy Weight Awareness Campaign. The Acting Surgeon General’s Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future initiative targets prevention of childhood overweight and obesity and the promotion of healthy lifestyles for young people.

 

Methods:

Healthy Weight Awareness Campaign message components include cutting back on soda consumption, reducing television and screen time, incorporating physical activity into simple tasks around the home, promoting walking and using local indoor and outdoor walking routes, reducing portion sizes, increasing winter physical activity, and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. Multiple channels of communication have been utilized, including direct mail print materials, television and radio messages, toolkits (brochures & magnets), posters, Physical Activity and Nutrition Action Packets, mini-grants, and placement of materials in local DHHS offices. Audience participation is a key component of the HWAC. Since the inception of the HWAC, nearly 300 parents have participated in 30 focus groups and numerous direct mail surveys have been collected and analyzed. These tools have been used to ascertain the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and skills (KABS) of the audience regarding physical activity and nutrition for use in the development of the campaign, and to pre-test acceptance of messages and communication channels. The audience has identified barriers to and competition for healthy behaviors. Methods to overcoming barriers and competition are incorporated into HWAC messages. 



MNN staff:

Lori Kaley, Madeleine Martin



Staff contact:

Lori A. Kaley, MS, RD, LD, MSB
45 Commerce Drive, Suite 11
Augusta, ME  04330
P: 207/626-5258
F: 207/626-5210
lkaley@usm.maine.edu



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