Insights from the Editor
Shocking Health Messages
As H1N1 flu marches across college campuses this fall, students are hearing a simple message about how to protect themselves: Wash your hands. But getting them to comply may be far more complicated.
During an infectious disease outbreak at a Canadian university in 2006, researchers found that students frequently failed to clean their hands before going into the cafeteria--even though there was a hand sanitizer and poster by the door instructing them not to enter unless they washed up. According to the study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Environmental Health, 83% of the students said they practiced proper hand hygiene. Yet they actually did so less than 20% of the time.
The researchers say one problem is that the "wash your hands" messages posted on campus weren't compelling enough. So how do you get students' attention? Gross them out. At least that's what another study on hand-washing found. As this video shows, when messages such as, "You just peed, wash your hands," were posted in bathrooms at the University of Denver, hand-washing rates went up.
This kind of in-your-face approach isn't limited to hygiene messages. It's also being used in Great Britain to warn kids about the dangers of texting while driving. Police in Wales have produced a gory video, which has become a YouTube sensation, showing a deadly accident caused by a teen texter.
Health officials in New York City are also trying to shock people--
in this case adults -- with posters on subways. A picture shows disgusting globs of fat pouring from a soda bottle, along with the message "Don't drink yourself fat." The campaign, which will run through the fall, aims to get people to cut back on soda and other sugary beverages.
Not all health educators agree that provoking shock and disgust is an effective way to change behavior. But if the result is that even a few more students wash their hands or put away their cell phones in the car, it's worth the effort. At the very least, it makes those health messages a lot more entertaining.
About the Author
Robert J. Davis, PhD is President and Editor-in-Chief of Everwell.
An award-winning health journalist whose work has appeared on CNN, PBS, WebMD and in The Wall Street Journal, he is the author of The Healthy Skeptic: Cutting Through the Hype About Your Health. He also teaches at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
Davis holds a PhD in health policy from Brandeis University, where he was a Pew Fellow, a master’s degree in public health from Emory, and an undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
