Final Report: Emergency Contraception Promotion Project (ECPP)

Excerpts from the Evaluation follow:

"The ECPP achieved all its project objectives via community mobilization, provider training, and a promotional campaign to address the various barriers to increased awareness and access to EC that exist in the Portland Tri-County area.

Community mobilization proved to be essential to the success of the project. Convening an advisory team ensured community input and approval of the campaign, while interpersonal contacts built a support network. Networking with community-based and social service organizations that serve the target audience of young women multiplied the venues through which women hear about EC and facilitated greater distribution of campaign materials. Mobilization efforts were also crucial to engaging the interest of clinical and non-clinical providers for training.

PSI recommends that the following be addressed in any future mobilization effort for EC:

• Become familiar with existing community knowledge and attitudes about EC, particularly among the target audience, clinical providers and social service providers;
• Convene an advisory team with community leaders and include at least one influential reproductive health medical expert;
• Provide accurate information about EC through the media and interpersonal contacts;
• Serve as a community resource for current research and events related to EC; and
• Maintain continued liaison with press contacts and develop "news worthy" stories.

The provider training component was crucial to addressing lack of knowledge about ECPs and unfavorable attitudes that prevented women from accessing ECPS. The training of trainers, generated a pool of peer trainers that PSI could call upon to conduct the in-service training. The one-hour in-service training format facilitated the training of the maximum number of clinical and non-clinical providers. Evaluation of training showed significant improvements in participants' knowledge of and attitudes toward EC.

In particular, PSI recommends the following guidelines for provider training:

• Use peer trainers.
• Have a minimum of five master clinical trainers who can conduct in-service training.
• Use a one-hour in-service training format to make the training more convenient for clinics and service organizations.
• Ensure that there is sufficient support to conduct in-service site development. Site development for in-service training is one of the most labor-intensive tasks of the project.
• Information on EC timing, safety and how it works, needs to be over emphasized. Develop a fun way to quiz the participants on the essential information at the end of each training session.
• On-going refresher training is necessary to sustain a high level of EC knowledge and motivation to discuss and prescribe it.

Formative research and pretesting with the target audience helped generate appealing and effective radio ads and collateral materials for the promotional campaign. The intensive periods of radio ad placement coincided with a three-fold increase in calls to the EC Hotline during the intervention. The highest volume of Hotline calls coincided with radio ads, high profile outreach events, and poster and wallet card dissemination. PSI did encounter corporate resistance to EC advertising when attempting to purchase advertising air-time with two radio stations and Regal Cinemas.

Regarding the media component, PSI recommends the following:

• Pretest materials to determine what resonates with the target audience (and use the existing materials in the campaign to the extent that they are effective);
• Base the development of new materials on formative research with the target audience and input from community members who will make use of the materials;
• If funding permits, conduct a 12-month media campaign with a phased roll-out of new concepts to keep the campaign fresh and appealing;
• Expect some resistance from media outlets regarding EC. When possible, work with the station representatives to address their concerns and to inform them about other media support of the campaign. If resistance continues, as with Regal Cinema, consider sharing the story with media contacts to generate some positive press coverage.

A social marketing project like the ECPP must be responsive over time to the changing needs of the target population to have a long-lasting impact..."

To request a copy of the full evaluation, or for more information, contact:

Alexandra Lowell (former Project Manager, PSI in Portland, Oregon)

Director of Programs

Behavior Works

534 SW 3rd Ave, Suite 415

Portland, OR 97204

United States

Tel: 503 294 0554

alowell@bwpdx.org

info@bwpdx.org

Source:

Emails from Alexandra Lowell to The Communication Initiative on January 27 2004 and April 16 2007; The Emergency Contraceptive Newsletter, Spring 2001, Vol. 6, No. 1 (no longer available online); and United States page on the PSI website (page no longer available, but click here to learn more about PSI's EC initiatives.)