Friends Can Be Good Medicine: An excursion into mental health promotion

Abstract

This paper describes Friends Can Be Good Medicine, a multi-media, mental health promotion campaign conducted in 1982 throughout California. The creative design, pilot-test, implementation and results are reviewed. Conceptually, Friends was derived from evidence linking supportive personal relationships with increased physical and mental health. Three major campaign elements were: broadcast media, an array of educational materials, and community activities. Evaluation findings revealed that Friends was most effective when campaign elements reinforced one another. Resulting changes in knowledge, attitudes, and intentions among those reached by Friends were maintained after one year. It is contended that, for better or worse, mass media is part of the health care system.

Mothers' attitudes toward seeking help for their children from school and private psychologists.

“…First, greater emphasis should be placed on the legitimacy of using mental health services. This idea has been supported by studies that demonstrate that marketing, by means of media advertisements, positively affects attitudes toward mental health services both in the short and the long term (Nelson & Barbaro, 1985;Taylor, Lam, Roppel, & Barter, 1984).…”

Act-Belong-Commit

“…[64][65][66][67][68] Furthermore, a sense of belonging or identification with a group helps buffer the negative well-being consequences of change. 60 Previous campaigns, such as California's Friends are Good Medicine 69,70 and VicHealth's Together We Do Better 71 have focused on the belong domain.…”

Applying Primary Prevention Precepts to Campus Substance Abuse Programs

“…Programming must be designed and delivered in full recognition of any cultural uniquenesses present in the target population or setting, for example, by incorporating the values and language of the target group. The Friends Can Be Good Medicine primary prevention program in California (Taylor, Lam, Roppel, & Barter, 1984) illustrated this approach by conveying mass media messages and other forms of intervention in Spanish to show respect and to connect with local Hispanic populations.…”