MPH 505 Week 6 Health Campaign Plan Example

Campaign Plan: Clip On Before You Back In, a Two-Season Effort to Raise Life Jacket Wear Among Small-Boat Anglers at Two Pruitt County Ramps From 7% to 20%

Student Name

Chamberlain University

MPH 505: Public Health Communication and Behavioral Health Theories

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Campaign Plan: Clip On Before You Back In, a Two-Season Effort to Raise Life Jacket Wear Among Small-Boat Anglers at Two Pruitt County Ramps From 7% to 20%

Audience and Target Behavior

The campaign is aimed at one segment, the men in their forties through early seventies who take their own small open boats, none longer than 21 feet, onto Kettle Lake and Sawmill Reservoir, most often by themselves or with a single friend. The target behavior is wearing a life jacket, preferably an inflatable belt pack or vest, from the moment the boat leaves the ramp until it is back on the trailer. Carrying a life jacket is not the target; nearly everyone in the segment already does that.

Objective

By the last weekend before Labor Day 2027, observed life jacket wear among adult men leaving the two main county ramps in open motorboats under 21 feet will rise from 7%, the composite baseline counted over four spring weekends in 2026, to at least 20%. Wear will be measured by trained observers using a fixed protocol, recording boat type, length class, apparent age group and whether each occupant is wearing a life jacket, on eight early mornings each spring and late summer. The target is ambitious for a voluntary campaign. The Wear It California! campaign raised adult wear from 8.5% to 12.1% in its first year (Mangione & Chow, 2014). This plan adds price reduction and peer modeling, which that campaign did not center, and it sets 20% as a stretch target rather than a prediction.

Theory Base

The campaign uses the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), applied in week 5. It aims to move three sets of beliefs. Subjective norm: wearing should become what respected anglers do, so that fishing partners stop treating it as a beginner's habit. Perceived behavioral control: men should feel able to choose, wear, check and rearm an inflatable device. Attitude toward wearing on every trip: the belief that calm days are safe days should give way to the recognition that a man is likeliest to go over while on his feet working a rod, a net or an anchor line. A secondary construct from the health belief model, a cue to action at the moment of launch, is used for the ramp materials, because the decision to wear is made in seconds at the water's edge.

Message Concepts

Each concept is written for a barrier the segment named, with the construct it targets shown beneath it.

Concept 1, "Ask Earl." A local angler in his sixties, recruited from the Kettle Lake fishing club and pictured with his permission, wearing a belt pack at the dock. Copy: "Thirty-one years on this lake. I wear it now because my partner started first, and I got tired of being the only one who didn't." Construct: subjective norm, through a trusted peer who changed.

Concept 2, "Calm Mornings." A photograph of flat water at dawn, with copy: "Flat water, first light. That is when most of us end up in it: standing to cast, leaning for the net, hauling the anchor. The vest in the hatch stays in the hatch." Construct: attitude, by tying risk to ordinary actions rather than weather.

Concept 3, "You Won't Notice It." A short video at a bait shop showing a man casting, netting and starting the motor while wearing a belt pack, then pulling the cord to show it inflate. Copy: "Weighs less than your tackle box. Doesn't catch on the reel." Construct: perceived control and attitude toward comfort.

Concept 4, "Agree Before You Launch." A card handed to pairs at the ramp: "Before you back in, ask your partner one question: clipped on?" Construct: subjective norm within the boat, the pair as the unit identified in week 5.

Every concept was written to be read by men who have not decided to wear a life jacket; none spends words on whether drowning is serious, which the segment already accepts.

Channels

Channels were chosen because the segment already uses them, not because they are large. The two ramps, where the decision is made, will carry a revised sign mounted where a driver backing a trailer can read it, and a volunteer on eight weekend mornings each season handing out the partner card. The four bait and tackle shops will host fitting days and offer the trade-in, and their owners have agreed to display concept 1 at the counter. The two fishing clubs will hear a ten-minute talk at a spring meeting from a club member, not health department staff. The state wildlife agency will place concept 2 in the reminder email sent to license holders with a county address in March. Local radio during the morning farm and weather report will run concept 2 as a short spot in April and May. Social media is a small part of the plan, because ramp conversations suggest many men in this segment use it little for fishing information.

The Trade-In

The largest barrier the segment names after comfort is price. With a regional outdoor retailer and the four shops, the campaign will offer a discount on an approved inflatable life jacket in exchange for an old foam vest, which the shops will donate to the county's loaner kiosks for families. The discount will be funded from a county injury prevention grant, capped at 300 devices a season.

Timeline

Table 1

Campaign Timeline, 2027 Season

Note. Note. A 2026 spring count supplies the baseline.

Budget

The budget is modest and is to be confirmed with the county. The main lines are the trade-in discount for up to 300 devices, the largest cost; printing of signs and cards; radio airtime for eight weeks; stipends for ramp volunteers; and observer time for the counts. Production of the video will use a local college media class. The cost per additional person wearing will be calculated at the end of the season, because a campaign that cannot show its cost per change in behavior is hard to defend to a county board.

Indicators

Indicators are paired with the objective and the theory. The primary indicator is observed wear at the ramps, by boat length and age group, compared with baseline. Process indicators are the number of inflatables sold through the trade-in, the number of fitting-day visitors and the number of partner cards handed out. Belief indicators, measured through a short intercept survey of 100 anglers at the ramps in spring and late summer, track agreement with three statements tied to the constructs: most anglers I respect wear a life jacket; I know how to check that an inflatable is ready; calm days are when most falls happen.

Risks and Limits

A voluntary campaign may move wear only a few points, as Mangione and Chow (2014) found. If late-summer counts fall short of the target, the report will say so plainly and will set out the evidence for a local wear requirement in small boats, which has been followed by much larger changes elsewhere (Cassell & Newstead, 2015). A second risk is that observers cannot tell an inflatable belt pack from a belt; the count protocol will include a close-range check at the launch lane.

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

Cassell, E., & Newstead, S. (2015). Did compulsory wear regulations increase personal flotation device (PFD) use by boaters in small power recreational vessels? A before-after observational study conducted in Victoria, Australia. Injury Prevention, 21(1), 15-22. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2014-041170

Mangione, T., & Chow, W. (2014). Changing life jacket wearing behavior: An evaluation of two approaches. Journal of Public Health Policy, 35(2), 204-218. https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2013.51