1. THE SOUND OF SILENCE: AN EVALUATION OF CDC’S PODCAST INITIATIVE Quynh-Chau, M., Myers, Bradford A. (2013). The Sound of Silence: an evaluation of CDC's podcast Initiative. Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing. Vol 7. http://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/pch/phcm/casesjournal/volume7/files/CasesVol%207_Ha_v3_FINAL.pdf (Links to an external site.) http://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/pch/phcm/casesjournal/volume7/files/CasesVol%207_Ha_v3_FINAL.pdf (Links to an external site.) Elizabeth Wallish IHED 619, Module 2 Case Study Assessment

2. STATEMENT OF HEALTH:  Not enough evidence has been collected on the use and effectiveness of podcasting for increasing awareness of, and action on public health issues. More research is needed to understand consumer perception of health messages delivered via podcast, their experiences with podcasts, and their content needs.

3. THEORIES:  CDC is the nations leading prevention agency informing individuals how to protect their health and tackle health concerns and emergencies.  CDC’s wide-circulating podcast summary of latest research has notified the public of disease outbreak.  CDC partners with local health departments to deliver culturally relevant health messages.  Key members of public health workforce have great influence on the health and well-being of populations.  Podcasts are valuable resources for consumers as an on-demand tool for increasing awareness and understanding.

4. BASIC DESIGN: Primary Objective - determine what consumers do with podcast information to improve or protect their health:  Plain language surveys communicate in language the public can understand and ensures a broad audience will continue to find podcasts useful and trustworthy as well as share their knowledge. Secondary Objective - learn what information users sought most often and gather information about quality of users experience when accessing CDC podcasts:  Evaluate the use of podcasts to disseminate heath messages by developing pretested and preapproved questions to evaluate usability and effectiveness of social media, mobile media, and other electronic communication channels.  Prepare 2 online surveys as a strategy for participation rates to occur over an 11-week period. Monitor sample rates weekly as data collection.

5. TARGET AUDIENCE:  Known podcast subscribers and visitors to the CDC podcast webpage  Local university students  Health clinic professionals

6. PRIMARY CHANNELS:  CDC website  Podcasts from portable devices  Email  RSS feeds  Surveys  Electronic mailing lists  Status updates on CDC Facebook and Twitter feeds  Recorded phone messages on 1.800.CDC.INFO  Posters / Flyers  Promotional material

7. KEY MESSAGES:  Use plain language and terms familiar to those with little to no medical or public health education.  State and local health departments should collaborate with national health agencies to leverage existing communication channels and use podcasts to deliver health messages.  Podcasts help users learn new facts and apply this information to improve or reinforce their own positive health behavior.  The potential for podcasts to reach abroad audience can be amplified when shared across social networks.

8. OUTCOMES:  60% participants used information from CDC podcast to educate themselves.  80% felt confident using website to look for information.  84% used the information to help others adopt a positive health behavior/stop a negative one.  85% participants shared this information with family, friends, or colleagues.  86% participant would recommend the site.  Survey results suggest CDC podcast audience is 40-59 years old.  Podcasts ideal for rapid delivery of health information and offer inexpensive way to serve public health needs and encourage health communities to consider benefits of using podcasts to promote public health.  Added to the body of evidence on cost-effectiveness of podcasting using quantitative data and qualitative analysis for themes that arose.  Increased awareness of public health issues and demographic and usability data to develop audience segmentation strategies.  Evaluated podcast effectiveness to help planners and stakeholders determine how to best reach and motivate target audiences.

9. LESSONS LEARNED:  More research needed, and not enough measureable evidence collected, on use and effectiveness of podcasting.  Technical limitations (website blocks imposed by security settings on users computers). Analysis showed website could be more user-friendly.  No personal information was captured to prohibit participants from responding to the survey more than once.  A need to reach teenagers/young adults who are forming life-long health behaviors became evident.  GAPS:  Only those who completed both surveys were included in the analysis.  No incentives were given for taking either survey.

10. PERSONAL CRITIQUE:  Target audience not specific enough. Did not answer ‘who is most affected?’ or ‘at risk?’  Did not create Spanish podcast version to account for 47% of survey participants interested.  Missed opportunity to advertise on other health-promoting, government websites in order to direct participants to the survey i.e. American Lung Association, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, etc.