Social marketing: why injury prevention needs to adopt this behaviour change approach

Concussion guidelines need to move from only expert content to also include implementation and dissemination strategies

“…This situation is not unique to concussion prevention, however, as there have been extremely few, theory- or evidence-informed efforts to disseminate any form of sports safety guidelines or to determine their fit and relevance to end-user groups 19 21 22…”

“…Individuals are now beginning to use social media to become informed about, and to share, health-related information 32 33. As a consequence, social media has begun to attract attention within the general health promotion literature28 and the sports medicine literature specifically,2 3 as a means of disseminating information and motivating health-related behaviour change 19 21. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that no prior attention has been given to the design, development, dissemination and evaluation of appropriate sport concussion messages through social media to ensure that they reach their target audiences and lead to demonstrable improvements in safety practices.…”

“…At the same time, they should initiate and actively engage in new partnerships with others, including appropriate end-user representation, to ensure that the much-needed implementation and dissemination strategies are achievable 15–17. There would also be considerable value in bringing together researchers with experience in social marketing, behaviour change and social media use with those with direct expertise in preventing and managing concussion in sport 21. In effect, we would benefit from a clearer division of labour between content generation and content dissemination.…”

BJSM social media contributes to health policy rethink: a physical activity success story in Hertfordshire

“…Hopefully, this story will motivate others to attempt public health change in favour of evidence based physical activity promotion and education, perhaps using social media and modern forms of communication, but with greater sophistication. Furthermore, this also demonstrates that social marketing lessons learnt in sports medicine and sports injury prevention11 may also be relevant to exercise medicine and physical activity promotion.…”

“…Despite the evidence supporting public health focus on increased physical activity (and hence fitness) over weightloss,10 11 we think this local priority inclusion demonstrates evidence-based public health progress in recognition of the importance of physical activity in health and well-being.…”