Use of Social Marketing to Develop Culturally Innovative Diabetes Interventions

Abstract

Diabetes continues to increase in magnitude throughout the United States and abroad. It is expected to increase by 165% from 2000 to 2050. Diabetes poses a particular burden to those in ethnic minority populations. African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians are more likely to be affected by diabetes, to be less active in health-promoting behavior, and to have fewer resources to address related complications compared with whites. Because diabetes disproportionately affects ethnic minorities in the United States, it is imperative that interventions be tailored to these audiences. To develop effective interventions, program developers must identify an audience-centered planning process that provides a foundation for culturally innovative interventions. Social marketing efforts in both domestic and international settings have been successful at improving the lives and health status of targeted individuals and communities. This article describes how the social marketing process can be used to create interventions that are culturally innovative and relevant. The Social Marketing Assessment and Response Tool (SMART) model is used to establish a relationship between social marketing and culturally specific interventions. The model incorporates a systematic and sequential process that includes preliminary planning; audience, channel, and market analyses; materials development and pretesting; implementation; and evaluation. Diabetes interventions that are developed and implemented with this approach hold promise as solutions that are more likely to be adopted by targeted audiences and to result in the desired health status changes.

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