A New England Community Water Fluoridation Campaign: Using Social

Marketing and Community Mobilization for Policy Change

Catherine Hayes, D.M.D, Dr.Med.Sc.

New England Community Water Fluoridation Campaign

• With support from DentaQuest, HRiA is designing, implementing and evaluating a CWF effort in two states, Massachusetts and Vermont via two main strategies:

– Community coalition building – Community-based social marketing campaign

Definition of a Coalition

• An organization of individuals representing diverse organizations, factions or constituencies who agree to work together in order to achieve a common goal.

- Feighery & Rogers, 1989

• An organization of diverse interest groups that combine their human and material resources to effect specific change that members are unable to bring about independently. - Brown, 1984

Why Community Coalitions?

• Address new and broader issues

• Encourage collaborative problem solving

• Create culturally relevant solutions

• Provide more cost effective and coordinated services – minimize duplication of services

• Leverage additional/new resources

• Increase communication within community

Community Readiness…

… is the extent to which a community is adequately prepared to

mobilize for and implement a project or initiative

Role of coalition (readiness) in establishing community readiness

Source: J. Liebman and K. Abrams, The Six Stages of Community Mobilization for Prevention, Southwest Center for the Application of Prevention Technology (CAPT), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, Draft, 2003.

Community Involvement

• Minigrant to Community

• Hire coordinator from the community in collaboration with the coalition

Social Marketing

• Turning audience insight into effective strategies

• Creating multi-strategy solutions

• Understanding where you’re coming from

Social Marketing

• Focus Groups• Stakeholder Interviews• Creative Brief• Design concepts• Campaign Implementation

Evaluation

• Public Support– Polling

• 10 days before campaign, midpoint, & end of campaign

• Policy Change– Key Informant interviews– Review of documents/media

Public Relations Strategy• “War Room” – PEW Rapid Response

team

Discussion

• Progress

• Challenges

• Successes

Next Steps