Method of health promotion and supporting evidence
Psychology has learned about the use of a media campaign in health promotion that public information films that are on TV which inform us of the gangers and gives information about what to do can reduce the incidence of chip pan accidents.
A Study that shows this is Cowpe (1989) Chip pan fire prevention 1976-84.
The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of TV advertisements about the dangers of chip pan fires.
This study is a field experiment using an independent groups design was conducted made possible by targeting some regional TV stations and not others.
The potential viewers in the different regions made up the sample.
Before the campaign, people were asked about chip pan fires and claimed they always did it safely but their ideas of “Safe” behaviour and fire brigade statistics suggested people were not safe in their use of chip pans.
A TV campaign was designed with both dramatic images of how fires develop and how to deal with them.
The idea was to offer both preventive and containment procedures in relation to chip pan fires
Information campaigns that say “you need to do this” aren’t effective because people tend to ignore them.
Both adverts showed the initial cause of the fire and then the actions required to put it out, firstly turn of the heat, secondly cover the pan with a damp cloth and thirdly leave the pan to cool done.
The dramatic effect of the commercials was heightened by combining real-time with slow-motion sequences.
Each advert ended with the message “of course if you don’t overfill your chip pan/leave your pan unattended in the first place you wont have to do any of this” emphasising the preventive message.
The campaign appeared in the period of January-March/April on a regional basis in ten areas from 1976-1984.
There were comparisons made between the areas where the messages were broadcast and areas