MPH 505 Week 3 Audience Analysis Example

Audience Analysis: Men Who Fish Alone or in Pairs From Their Own Small Boats on Two Pruitt County Reservoirs, and What Wearing a Life Jacket Would Cost Them

Student Name

Chamberlain University

MPH 505: Public Health Communication and Behavioral Health Theories

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Audience Analysis: Men Who Fish Alone or in Pairs From Their Own Small Boats on Two Pruitt County Reservoirs, and What Wearing a Life Jacket Would Cost Them

The Segment

This analysis profiles one audience segment for a life jacket wear campaign: men between 40 and 74 who own and fish from an open motorboat shorter than 21 feet on Kettle Lake or Sawmill Reservoir in Pruitt County, a composite rural county, and who usually fish alone or with one partner. The segment was chosen because it accounts for most of the county's boating drownings over ten years and because it is reachable at a small number of places: two main ramps, four bait and tackle shops and the county's two fishing clubs. Slater (1996) argues that segments should be defined by characteristics that predict response to a message, not by demographics alone. Age and sex here are shorthand for something more useful, a group whose fishing habits, boats and beliefs are similar enough that one message could fit them.

What They Already Believe

Members of this segment know that a life jacket must be carried and almost all carry one. In ramp conversations held as part of our composite county count, the reasons given for not wearing were consistent with focus group findings from Washington State (Quistberg et al., 2014). They see danger as something that comes with wind and waves, they trust their swimming and their familiarity with the water, and several said that the vest is "for the grandkids" or "for when it gets rough." A few said they would wear one if they were on a big lake, never on their own reservoir. These are beliefs about when the behavior applies, not about whether drowning is serious.

What Changing Would Cost Them

Each barrier carries a price in time, money or standing, and the price is what a campaign has to lower.

Table 1

Costs of Wearing a Life Jacket as the Segment Describes Them

Note. Note. Composite summary of ramp conversations in Pruitt County, 2026, consistent with Quistberg et al. (2014).

The costs that matter most are repeated ones. Price is paid once, but heat, bulk and the look of the vest are paid on every trip. That is why the barrier of discomfort is a more promising target than the barrier of cost: a device that removes it removes a cost paid hundreds of times.

Who They Trust

The segment trusts other anglers more than agencies. The owners of the two largest bait shops, a retired game warden who runs one of the fishing clubs and the regulars at the Kettle Lake ramp were named most often as people whose word carries weight. State wildlife agency officers are respected but associated with citations. Health department staff, including the writer, are seen as outsiders. Fishing television hosts were mentioned, and several men noted that professional tournament anglers wear life jackets while their main engine is running because event rules require it. That detail matters: it gives the campaign a respected group whose members already wear one, at least part of the time, without anyone thinking less of them for it.

Reading the Segment Through the Theory of Planned Behavior

Ajzen's theory explains intention through three sets of beliefs: how favorably a person views doing it, what they think their important others expect of them, and how much say they feel they have over doing it (Ajzen, 1991). Applied to this segment, the theory makes three predictions. Attitudes toward wearing are mixed rather than negative: the men agree life jackets work but see wearing as uncomfortable and unnecessary in calm water. Subjective norms work against wearing, because the people whose opinion matters, fishing partners and ramp regulars, rarely wear one and might read wearing as a sign of inexperience. Perceived control is high for foam vests and low for inflatables. The theory therefore predicts that changing norms and building control over inflatables would move intention more than another argument about risk.

This reading adds something the health belief model analysis did not capture. In observational data from Washington State, adolescents were far more likely to wear a life jacket when an adult in the same boat wore one (Chung et al., 2014). Wearing spreads through the people in the boat. For this segment, the fishing partner is the most important other.

Who Was Left Out, and Why

Several groups were excluded on purpose. Kayak anglers already wear life jackets at far higher rates and face different barriers. Families on pontoon boats are reached by child life jacket laws and would need a different message. Tournament anglers are covered by event rules while running, and their problem is drifting and fishing without one, which is closer to our segment but involves a different social setting. Commercial guides were left out because their obligations come from licensing. Leaving these groups out allows one message to fit one segment rather than a weaker message for all.

Implications for Message Design

Five implications follow. First, every message should be about wearing, not carrying, and should name the ordinary moments when men in small boats go overboard. Second, messages should carry the voices of the trusted sources, bait shop owners, club leaders and experienced anglers, not health department staff. Third, the campaign should lower the price of comfort, through a trade-in or discount on inflatable devices sold at local shops. Fourth, it should build confidence with the device, showing how to check and rearm an inflatable. Fifth, it should make wearing visible among peers, so that the norm the segment sees at the ramp begins to change.

Each of these implications is tied to a finding above, and each can be tested before the campaign spends money. The plan for week 6 will pretest draft messages with a dozen men from the segment at two bait shops, asking which voice they trust and which version of the request they would follow.

References

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Chung, C., Quan, L., Bennett, E., Kernic, M. A., & Ebel, B. E. (2014). Informing policy on open water drowning prevention: An observational survey of life jacket use in Washington State. Injury Prevention, 20(4), 238-243. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2013-041005

Quistberg, D. A., Bennett, E., Quan, L., & Ebel, B. E. (2014). Low life jacket use among adult recreational boaters: A qualitative study of risk perception and behavior factors. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 62, 276-284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.10.015

Slater, M. D. (1996). Theory and method in health audience segmentation. Journal of Health Communication, 1(3), 267-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/108107396128059