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Example of evaluation of media campaign in traffic
Marko Divjak & Vlasta Zabukovec
Full text (pdf) | Views: 15 | Written in Slovene. | Published: June 6, 2007
Abstract: The paper presents an example of evaluation of the intervention EUCHIRES (EUropean public awareness campaign on the use of seat belts and CHIld REstraint Systems) which was designed to promote the use of seat belts and child safety seats (CSS). It combined media campaign and project work in a few chosen Slovene kindergartens with preventive and repressive actions of the Police. The evaluation model consisted of three different approaches: (a) the media campaign evaluation using a telephone poll, (b) the investigation of changes in knowledge, attitudes and self-reported use of CSS in case of both kindergarten teachers and parents, and (c) the observational study of the actual seat belt and CSS wearing rates on the roads. Media campaign proved effective in terms of reach, attractiveness, and recall of its message. Besides, the comparison of the effects of the combined approach (media campaign and project work) with the effects of media campaign alone showed that the first approach had been more effective only in terms of educating both kindergarten teachers and parents. With changing attitudes and self-reported use of CSS, however, no major differences between approaches were detected. In addition, the results of the observation revealed the 8% increase in the number of properly restrained children being younger than 12 years during the intervention, whereas the wearing rates of other groups of passengers did not change. Critical examination of the evaluation model together with some guidelines for planning and evaluating future interventions is provided in the end.
Keywords: preventive interventions, media campaigns, project work, evaluation