Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 23:40:102657.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2024.102657. eCollection 2024 Apr.

The preferences of people in Australia to respond and engage with advertisements to promote reproductive health: Results of a discrete choice experiment

Edwina Dorney  1 , Kirsten I Black  1 , Marion Haas  2 , Deborah Street  2 , Jody Church  2
Affiliations

The preferences of people in Australia to respond and engage with advertisements to promote reproductive health: Results of a discrete choice experiment

Edwina Dorney et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

Objectives: The health of people prior to pregnancy impacts pregnancy outcomes and childhood health, making the preconception period an important time to optimise health behaviours. Low awareness of the importance of this issue is a recognised barrier to achieving good preconception health. Public health messaging can help to address this barrier.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment to assess the preferences of people of reproductive age for a health promotion advertisement for preconception health was conducted. Attributes of the advertisement image, title, additional text content and positioning, and the location of advertisement were assessed by fitting a mixed logit model to the choices made.

Results: Three hundred and thirty-four responses were obtained, from people of reproductive age, both planning and not planning a pregnancy, in Australia. Participants placed most importance on the image, and the location in which they saw the advertisement. An image of adult and baby hands was preferred to adult hands only, and healthcare settings were preferred to more general media locations such as advertising online or on public transport. Preference was also given to the advertisement title of "Healthy you, Healthy baby", closely followed by "Are you ready for pregnancy?". The location and content of additional text did not significantly impact engagement with the advertisement.

Conclusion: The image and title on the advertisement, and the locations in which they are placed were the most significant features to impact engagement with a health promotion advertisement for preconception health. This can inform health promotion efforts for preconception health.

Keywords: Consumer preferences; Discrete choice experiment; Health communication; Health promotion; Preconception; Reproductive health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Stages of Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) development for an advertisement about preconception health.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Choice Task examples for the Discrete Choice Experiment for an advertisement about preconception health.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Preferences for features of preconception health advertisements.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Preferred advertisement features.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Word Cloud for suggested titles for preconception health tool.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Barros I.M., Alcântara T.S., Mesquita A.R., Santos A.C., Paixão F.P., Lyra D.P., Jr. The use of pictograms in the health care: a literature review. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2014;10(5):704–719. - PubMed
    1. Bayly M, Cotter T, Carroll T. 14.4 Examining the effectiveness of public education campaigns. In: Scollo MM and Winstanley MH, editor. Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues Melbourne: Cancer Council Victoria. 2019.
    1. Bearak J., Popinchalk A., Ganatra B., Moller A.B., Tunçalp Ö., Beavin C., et al. Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019. Lancet Glob Health. 2020;8(9):e1152. e1161. - PubMed
    1. Black K.I., Dorney E. Australia The University of Sydney; Sydney: 2023. Preconception care in priority groups: optimisation and dissemination of an online preconception health selfassessment tool. National Women's Health Strategy & National Men's health strategy-health promotion - 4-EB5Q2RJ final report.
    1. Bortolus R., Oprandi N.C., Rech Morassutti F., Marchetto L., Filippini F., Agricola E., et al. Why women do not ask for information on preconception health? a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2017;17(1):5. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources