Core Health Messages: A Strategy to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Rural, Low-Income Families

Introduction: Research consistently demonstrates that rural, low-income families face greater challenges to their physical, mental, and dental health than the nation as a whole. This is partly due to structural factors characteristic of rural communities such as limited availability and access to health services as well as inadequate health insurance coverage. These health disparities cannot be alleviated simply by distributing health information. The information must be timely, culturally relevant, and based on principles of health literacy. In this poster presentation, we present the process of creating culturally relevant health messages employed by the USDA/NIFA funded Core Health Messages project.

Creation of Health Messages: The Core Health Messages were created in 4 steps: development, testing, analyses, and refinement of Messages. (Examples of messages are not shown in this proposal but will be presented in the poster.)

1)      Development of health messages. The messages were initially drafted by the multi-disciplinary rural health team with input from Extension and research colleagues who are rural health experts. The Messages targeted the areas of physical health, dental health, health care accessibility, and food security. They were then further crafted in consultation with the target mothers, community leaders, and health communications specialists. Culturally appropriate visuals were also developed for multiple ethnicities.

2)      Testing of health messages. Multiple methods were employed to test the Core Health Messages: two forums (n=50), nine focus groups in 9 states (n=43), and one-on-one interviews with rural, low-income mothers (n=75) in 10 states. The Messages were evaluated by a retrospective pre post survey as well as in-depth interviews with target mothers.

3)      Data analysis. Input from forums, focus groups, and interviews were analyzed to identity health message items requiring revision. Examples of changes include increasing emphasis on community contexts, empathy, depth of information, speaker of the message (i.e., health professional, friend), e.t.c. The refined set of Core Health Messages were reviewed by the health communication specialists.

4)      Test of refined core health messages. Extension educators tested the messages in their educational programs focusing on health. This test provided evidence of the utility of the Core Messages in community-based programs.

Implication: In this project, rural, low-income mothers actively participated in the development and refinement of the messages. Such a collaborative, learner-based approach is effective because it encourages members of the target population to have a sense of ownership of the product. The process demonstrated in this project has significant implications for preventative public health efforts aimed at reducing health disparities by empowering target populations.