A systematic review of the effectiveness of mass media campaigns for the management of low back pain

Abstract

Title: A systematic review of the effectiveness of mass media campaigns for the management of low back pain (LBP). Purpose: To synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of mass media campaigns for the management of LBP on beliefs of the general public and health care providers, LBPrelated disability, health utilization, and LBP clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods: Five electronic databases were searched from inception to December 17, 2019. Any studies evaluating the effectiveness of mass media campaigns for LBP were eligible. Primary outcome was general public LBP beliefs, while secondary outcomes included health care provider beliefs as well as LBP-related disability, health utilization, and clinical outcomes. Results: The search resulted in 4,164 unique records, of which 18 studies were ultimately included. These 18 studies predominantly used quasi-experimental methods to evaluate 7 LBP mass media campaigns conducted in 7 countries. All studies evaluating LBP beliefs in the general public detected positive effects. Health care provider beliefs also consistently improved. Results for behavioural outcomes (disability behaviour and health utilization) were mixed and appeared dependent on campaign characteristics and local context. A promising effect on physical activity was observed following the only campaign that evaluated this outcome, but only at 5-year follow-up. Conclusions: Mass media campaigns for LBP appear effective for improving beliefs of the general public and health care providers. Changing public and practitioner LBPrelated behaviour requires more concerted effort.

Back and neck pain: in support of routine delivery of non-pharmacologic treatments as a way to improve individual and population health

“…Public education campaigns can potentially be effective in driving uptake of non-pharmacological treatments if they are modeled after those that were used to successfully improve general expectations of back pain management. 43 A classic example is a public advertisement campaign in Australia that used radio and printed advertisements, outdoor billboards, posters, seminars, workplace visits, and publicity articles to successfully modify beliefs and health care utilization related to low back pain. 43 However, depending on the country these media campaigns were implemented -not all had similar positive effects and existing public campaign models would have to be modified to specifically advocate for use of non-pharmacologic treatments.…”

“I would not go to him”: Focus groups exploring community responses to a public health campaign aimed at reducing unnecessary diagnostic imaging of low back pain

“…Participants in the focus groups who told personal stories of benefits from having imaging appeared, perhaps unsurprisingly, to have the strongest negative reactions to suggestions that imaging tests can be unnecessary or harmful. A systematic review found that mass media campaigns were effective in improving the accuracy of low back pain beliefs among health care providers and the general public, but may not reduce diagnostic imaging rates 25 . This could be explained by the nature of communication strategies used in the mass media campaigns; most simply encouraged self‐management and addressed myths such as ‘ Bed rest is helpful ’ and ‘ X‐rays and newer imaging tests can always find the cause of pain ’ rather than directly confronting the problem of overdiagnosis.…”

“Study Natural” without Drugs: An Exploratory Study of Theory-Guided and Tailored Health Campaign Interventions to Prevent Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants in College Students

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study examined the efficacy of theory-guided and tailored campaign interventions in changing college students' attitudes and behavior towards NMUPS. Findings of our study can help address issues prevalent and persistent in the campaign literature: (1) a lack of theory-guided and tailored campaign interventions [30,31], (2) a lack of campaign studies that offer detailed information on how the campaign strategies and messages were designed and developed [84,[86][87][88][89]105], and (3) a lack of campaign interventions in the context of NMUPS tailored to emerging adults such as college students [81][82][83].…”

“…We believe important understandings could be gained by answering the research question raised above, as there is an urgent need to fill the existing research gap and identify approaches that could effectively address and alleviate students' engagement in NMUPS activities [81][82][83]. In addition, there is also a need to develop theory-guided interventions that can be replicated and applied in other health contexts to further strengthen the campaign intervention literature [84][85][86][87][88][89].…”