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. 2021 Mar 30:5:23992026211003499.
doi: 10.1177/23992026211003499. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

You Have Options: Implementing and evaluating a contraceptive choice social marketing campaign

Beth Sundstrom  1 , Andrea L DeMaria  2 , Merissa Ferrara  1 , Stephanie Meier  2 , Kerri Vyge  3 , Deborah Billings  4 , Dee DiBona  4 , Bridget M McLernon Sykes  5
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You Have Options: Implementing and evaluating a contraceptive choice social marketing campaign

Beth Sundstrom et al. Med Access Point Care. .

Abstract

Background: Up to two-thirds of pregnancies among young, unmarried women in the United States are unintended, despite increased access to highly effective contraceptive options.

Aim: This study implemented and evaluated a social marketing campaign designed to increase access to a full range of contraceptive methods among women aged 18-24 years on a southeastern university campus.

Methods: Researchers partnered with Choose Well and Student Health Services to design, implement, and evaluate You Have Options, a 10-week multi-media social marketing campaign. The campaign aimed to raise awareness, increase knowledge, and improve access to contraceptive options, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods among college women. A pretest-posttest web-based survey design measured campaign awareness and recognition, as well as attitudes, subjective norms, and behavior.

Results: Participants demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge about intrauterine devices (IUDs) between pretest (M = 2.66, SD = 1.30) and posttest (M = 3.06; SD = 1.96); t(671) = -2.60, p < .01). Analysis revealed that frequent exposure to the campaign prompted participants to engage in discussions about LARC with friends (p < .05). In addition, 20- to 24-year-olds who reported seeing the campaign messages were more likely to seek out information (p < .01) and adopt a LARC method (p = .001) than 18- or 19-year-olds who saw the campaign messages.

Conclusion: Findings from the study offer practical recommendations for implementing social marketing campaigns aimed at increasing access to LARC and reducing unintended pregnancy.

Keywords: Contraception; campaigns; health communication; social marketing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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