PHE 330 Module 5 Project One Example

Project One: Float First. A Summer Communication Plan for Drowning Prevention at the Harbor Piers

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

PHE 330: Public Health Education and Communication

Project One

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

Project One: Float First. A Summer Communication Plan for Drowning Prevention at the Harbor Piers

Nine people have drowned beside the town's two harbor piers in the past ten years, and twenty-two more were rescued. Most were young men visiting from inland cities on windy summer afternoons. The beach has flags and signs, but surveys found that few visitors can read the flags correctly, and most would respond to a current in the most dangerous way, by swimming straight back toward shore. This plan sets out how the county health department, the city and their partners will communicate about pier currents during the coming summer. It is not a full prevention program; it focuses on what communication can do, which is to change what people know, believe and intend before and during a beach visit.

Audiences

The plan addresses three segments identified in the audience analysis. The priority segment is young men aged 16 to 30 visiting from inland cities, who account for most deaths, map out trips by phone and give more weight to friends and reviews than to official pages. The second segment is families on day trips, whose parents sometimes become victims while trying to reach a child. The third is local teenagers who jump from the pier ends and see warnings as meant for tourists. Most resources will go to the priority segment, with smaller strands for the other two.

Objectives

Communication objectives describe changes in what the audience knows and intends, which are more realistic for a campaign than direct changes in drowning. By the end of August: at least 60% of visiting young men surveyed at the beach will correctly state what a red flag means, up from about 25%; at least 50% will correctly describe floating and moving out along the edge of a current, up from under 20%; and at least 70% of families surveyed will say they would call for help and throw something that floats rather than enter the water after a child. Behavioral outcomes, such as fewer rescues, will be tracked but are too rare to judge in one season.

Core Message and Variations

The core message is: The lake is stronger than any swimmer. If a current pulls you, flip onto your back, float and follow the edge out. It follows the extended parallel process model of Witte (1992) by pairing a credible threat with a clear response framed as what capable swimmers do. For families, the variation is: If someone is pulled out, don't go in. Call, throw something that floats and point. For local teenagers, the variation is delivered by swim team lifeguards: Know the flags, watch the visitors, call it in. Pretesting with twelve young men led to the respectful opening line; Fallon et al. (2017) showed how widespread gaps in current knowledge are, which is why each message teaches the response rather than only warning.

Channels and Timing

Channels follow the moments when each audience can be reached. Before the trip, the plan places the fifteen-second lifeguard video and a still image in social media ads aimed by age and location at people within three hours' drive who search for the beach, and adds the message and flag meanings to the beach's map listing and photos. On arrival, the image goes on the parking pay stations, which every visitor uses, and on the pier entrance signs. During the visit, lifeguards make a short loudspeaker announcement on red-flag days. For families, hotels, campgrounds and the visitor center hand out a card; for teenagers, the swim team carries the message through school and summer lifeguard work.

Timing within the week matters as much as the channel. Wave forecasts for the shore are usually reliable two or three days ahead, so the ad budget is weighted toward days before forecast high-wave weekends, when the message is most relevant and the cost of reaching the right people is lowest. On calm weekends, ads shift to the family message, which is useful in any conditions.

Messengers and Partners

The most important messenger is the lifeguard featured in the video, close in age to the priority segment and credible because she does the work. Partners include the city parks department, which controls signs and pay stations; the harbor's two largest restaurants and a surf shop, which agree to display cards and share posts; the chamber of commerce, which manages the visitor center; and the high school swim team. The health department coordinates and evaluates. Partners were chosen because they already reach visitors at the moments that matter.

Calendar

May: final materials, partner agreements and installation of pay station decals and pier signs. Memorial Day weekend: ads begin and the map listing is updated. June through August: ads run on weekends and before forecast high-wave days; lifeguard announcements on red-flag days; two intercept survey weekends, one in early July and one in late August. September: analysis and report.

Budget

Table 1 summarizes costs.

Table 1. Communication Plan Budget

Note. Proposed sources: county drowning prevention fund, a local hospital foundation and in-kind support from the city.

Judging Success

Snyder (2007) found that health campaigns typically produce modest average changes in behavior, so the plan judges success first by reach and understanding. Reach will be measured through ad impressions and video views among the target age and area, the number of family cards distributed and lifeguard announcement logs. Understanding will be measured by the two intercept surveys against the objectives. Rescues and drownings will be reported, with the caution that one summer cannot show a trend.

Conclusion

The plan aims a short, respectful message at the visitors most at risk, at the moments they plan and arrive, through messengers they trust. It is modest in cost and realistic in its goals: to make floating the first thing a swimmer thinks of when the lake pulls. It can be repeated and improved each summer.

References

Fallon, K. M., Lai, Q., & Leatherman, S. P. (2017). Rip current literacy of beachgoers at Miami Beach, Florida. Natural Hazards, 90(2), 601-621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-3060-7

Snyder, L. B. (2007). Health communication campaigns and their impact on behavior. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 39(2, Suppl.), S32-S40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2006.09.004

Witte, K. (1992). Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model. Communication Monographs, 59(4), 329-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637759209376276