Syphilis Health Communication Resources

Background

On October 7, 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other government agencies, and community groups joined together to launch The National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States (346 KB/84 pages). The Plan identified key strategies needed for syphilis elimination, such as expanded surveillance and outbreak response activities, rapid screening in and out of medical settings, expanded laboratory services, strengthened community involvement and agency partnerships, and enhanced health promotion efforts. Health communication was identified as a key intervention strategy to help improve syphilis testing, reporting, follow-up, and treatment, as well as to create new alliances among groups that could promote syphilis elimination activities.

To this end, a National Syphilis Elimination Communication Plan was developed, which identified three primary target audiences, (1) policymakers, (2) health care providers, and (3) community representatives, and outlined possible health communication strategies for influencing their syphilis-related awareness, knowledge, and behaviors. To more effectively target these strategies, formative research was conducted during 2000-2001, exploring the target audiences' knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices (KABPs) regarding syphilis. The methodology, findings, and analysis of this research are included in these reports.

Research

• Syphilis Elimination Project: Findings from Concept Testing Research with Health Care Providers, Community Representatives and Political Leaders and Exploratory Research with At-Risk Populations (153 pages/1.6MB)
  • Executive Summary (7 pages/.1MB)
• Health Communications Research to Support the National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States (32 pages/.46MB)
• Syphilis Elimination Effort Literature Review Focused on Men Who Have Sex with Men and Their Attitudes and Perceptions of Syphilis (31 pages/.77 KB)
• Final Report: STD Communications Database, Interviews with Non-Gay Identified Men who have Sex with Men (NGI MSM) - This study collected data on the behaviors, attitudes, and community/culture of African-American and Hispanic/Latino NGI MSM aged 20 – 45 relevant to STDs and their ideas for increasing knowledge of how to prevent these diseases. (131 pages, 1.4 MB)
  • Executive Summary

Communication Tools

• The Syphilis Elimination Effort (SEE) Community Mobilization Toolkit - a set of communications tools designed to help public health practitioners mobilize community alliances to eliminate syphilis. (March 7, 2005)
• Syphilis Elimination Effort Communication Plan