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Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever”?
  2. What is the target audience for “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever”?
  3. What is the goal of the campaign?
  4. What materials are available to support the campaign?
  5. What materials are suggested as a minimum for implementing the campaign?
  6. Are there any TV spots for the “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever” campaign?
  7. Are states authorized to use the campaign graphics to create new products?
  8. Can the materials be localized?
  9. Can phrases from the campaign (i.e., “I can’t let arthritis stand in my way” or “show arthritis who’s boss” ) be used to promote specific interventions, or used on other materials?
  10. How often should the ad materials be featured?
  11. What are the expectations about rigorous evaluation of the health communication campaign? If current evaluations of the effects show that the campaign works, does evaluation continue in future years?
  12. When do campaign materials expire?
  13. How is this revised campaign different than the original “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever.” campaign?
  14. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using the 1-800-CDC-INFO line as the telephone response mechanism?

 

 

1. What is “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever”?

A: “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever” is a health communications campaign designed to promote physical activity among Caucasian and African American people who are 45 to 65 years old and have arthritis. Campaign materials include radio spots, billboards, bus shelter placards, brochures, and print ads flyers, bookmarks and bill stuffers. Campaign print materials are awaiting updates. However, the campaign radio spots are available for use.

 

2. What is the target audience for “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever”?

A: The campaign’s target audience is people with arthritis who are 40 to 65 years old. The campaign was designed to appeal to Caucasians and African Americans with less education than a college degree, and income under $75,000 per year. Campaign materials were tested, and do resonate with adults up to age 70. However the messages are incomplete for adults over age 65 because the HHS Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults over age 65 also incorporate balance exercises, and this message is not included in the campaign materials.

 

3. What is the goal of the campaign?

A: The campaign is designed to achieve the following goals:

  • Raise awareness of physical activity as a way to manage arthritis pain and increase function.
  • Increase understanding of how to use physical activity (types and duration) to ease arthritis symptoms and prevent further disability.
  • Enhance the confidence of persons with arthritis so that they can be physically active.
  • Increase trial of physical activity behaviors.

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4. What materials are available to support the campaign?

A: The “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever.” campaign elements consist of taped radio spots and live-announcer scripts, a brochure and sticker to be placed as a counter top display, and print advertisements including, outdoor billboards, bus shelter placard, flyer, bill stuffer, and bookmark. All radio and print executions can also be used as either a PSA or a paid placement. Campaign print materials are awaiting updates. However, the campaign radio spots are available for use.

 

5. What materials are suggested as a minimum for implementing the campaign?

A: To conduct the campaign, it is recommended to include a mix of media types to ensure broad reach of the target audience. Organizations should partner with a state health department to implement the campaign and at least use brochures placed in community locations and some type of outdoor advertising (radio ads, billboards, and/or bus shelter placards) and some type of print ad or ancillary print materials. Campaign print materials are awaiting updates. However, the campaign radio spots are available for use.

 

6. Are there any TV spots for the “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever” campaign?

A: At this time, campaign materials have not been designed or tested for TV. We recommend focusing efforts on placement of the available campaign materials.

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7. Are states authorized to use the campaign graphics to create new products?

A: No. The only modification allowed is the replacement of the national 1-800 telephone number with a local response number.

 

8. Can the materials be localized?

A: You can replace the national 1-800 number with a local toll-free telephone number for arthritis information. You can also replace the CDC website with a local web address.

 

9. Can phrases from the campaign (i.e., “I can’t let arthritis stand in my way” or “show arthritis who’s boss”) be used to promote specific interventions, or used on other materials?

A: Use of the campaign phrases is not restricted because they are not trademarked but there is no evidence that the phrases alone are effective in reaching the target population or promoting physical activity.

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10. How often should the ad materials be featured?

A: The more the campaign materials are used, the more effective the campaign will be in reaching the target audience. When considering how long to run the campaign in your market, we recommend a minimum of 6 to 10 weeks. You can stretch your investment dollars out if you run the campaign for 2 weeks, withdraw paid ads for 2 weeks, and then run the paid ads for another 2 weeks. It is better to achieve a higher saturation of your messages during a shorter period of time than to space your campaign out over several months with limited exposures. You may choose to run the campaign again at a later date, just keep the saturation concept in mind.

 

11. What are the expectations about rigorous evaluation of the health communication campaign? If current evaluations of the effects show that the campaign works, does evaluation continue in future years?

A: The CDC Arthritis Program Implementation Logic Model outlines five questions to guide evaluation of the campaign: 1. Were the campaign materials distributed? (To communication channels such as radio stations, community centers, and/or newspapers, etc.) 2. Were the materials used? (Did the radio stations air the spots? Did the newspaper print the PSAs? Were the posters, flyers, and/or counter-top brochure holders used in their community locations?) 3. Did the materials reach the target audience? (What was the listener-ship in the target audience at the time the spots aired? What is the profile of the readership? How many brochures were picked up from community locations or sent to members of the target audience?) 4. Were the materials read and/or understood by the target audience? 5. Did the campaign produce changes in knowledge, attitudes or beliefs, or behavior?

States should concentrate evaluation efforts on assessing campaign implementation (questions 1 through 3) rather than campaign impact (questions 4 and 5). Although it is not required, you can do a community survey to assess the outcomes of your efforts. A post test only community survey was done in the pilot test of the revised campaign materials, and showed positive results (i.e. on average 16% reported increasing their physical activity in the past month in response to something they saw or read). Note: Campaign print materials are awaiting updates. However, the campaign radio spots are available for use.

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12. When do campaign materials expire?

A: All campaign materials can be used indefinitely.  Although early CDs with campaign radio spots indicated an expiration date, the rights have been purchased for indefinite use.  If you need a CD without an expiration date, please contact the CDC Arthritis Program.

 

13. How is this revised campaign different than the original “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever.” campaign?

A: The campaign materials were all revised in 2010. The campaign tagline, “Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever.”, and the call to action, be physically active, remain the same. All campaign materials were revised to strengthen their motivational elements.

  • Expanding the target audience to ages 40-65, educational level up to including some college, and income level up to $75, 000. Materials were tested, and do resonate, with people up to age 70, but the messaging is incomplete for those ages 65-70 because it does not include balance.
  • Increasing the physical activity “prescription” to 30 minutes per day 5 days per week to be consistent with the 2008 Department of Health and Human Services physical activity guidelines. Note: the prescription is described in minutes per day rather than a weekly total because this audience found the daily minutes to be more motivating.
  • Adding a web address for more information to many of the materials. The materials include the CDC Arthritis Program web address, which will have campaign specific pages. This can be replaced by the health department or state arthritis program if desired.
  • Utilizing the 1-800-CDC-INFO toll free number as the telephone response mechanism. This number can be replaced by a local response number. The key advantage to using the CDC-INFO number is customer service: this line has live operators 7 days per week, 24 hours per day. See a later FAQ for additional information on utilizing the CDC-INFO line as your telephone response mechanism.

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14. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using the 1-800-CDC-INFO line as the telephone response mechanism?

A: A key advantage of using the CDC-INFO line is customer service; this line has live operators 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The operators respond using prepared responses to common questions so we are sure the key campaign messages are reinforced. Other advantages are that CDC-INFO creates the opportunity to capture some evaluation data on callers by routinely inviting callers to complete a satisfaction survey at the end of their call (which approximately 25% do), and a call back survey to determine how they used the information (which approximately 10-15% do).

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