Do Low Income Youth of Color See “ The Bigger Picture ” When Discussing Type 2 Diabetes: A Qualitative Evaluation of a Public Health Literacy Campaign

Dean Schillinger, Jessica Tran and Sarah Fine
Additional contact information
Dean Schillinger: Department of Medicine and Center for Vulnerable, Populations University of California San Francisco, Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Jessica Tran: Department of Medicine and Center for Vulnerable, Populations University of California San Francisco, Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Sarah Fine: Department of Medicine and Center for Vulnerable, Populations University of California San Francisco, Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: As Type 2 diabetes spikes among minority and low-income youth, there is an urgent need to tackle the drivers of this preventable disease. The Bigger Picture (TBP) is a counter-marketing campaign using youth-created, spoken-word public service announcements (PSAs) to reframe the epidemic as a socio-environmental phenomenon requiring communal action, civic engagement and norm change. Methods: We examined whether and how TBP PSAs advance health literacy among low-income, minority youth. We showed nine PSAs, asking individuals open-ended questions via questionnaire, then facilitating a focus group to reflect upon the PSAs. Results: Questionnaire responses revealed a balance between individual vs. public health literacy. Some focused on individual responsibility and behaviors, while others described socio-environmental forces underlying risk. The focus group generated a preponderance of public health literacy responses, emphasizing future action. Striking sociopolitical themes emerged, reflecting tensions minority and low-income youth experience, such as entrapment vs. liberation. Conclusion: Our findings speak to the structural barriers and complexities underlying diabetes risk, and the ability of spoken word medium to make these challenges visible and motivate action. Practice Implications: Delivering TBP content to promote interactive reflection has potential to change behavioral norms and build capacity to confront the social, economic and structural factors that influence behaviors.

Keywords: health literacy; social marketing; type 2 diabetes; diabetes prevention; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/5/840/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/5/840/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:5:p:840-:d:142966

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().