Qualitative Analysis of Infant Safe Sleep Public Campaign Messaging

• Published in: Health promotion practice Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 203 - 212
• Main Authors: Peacock, Nadine R., Altfeld, Susan, Rosenthal, Allison L., Garland, Caitlin E., Massino, Jill M., Smith, Sherri L., Rowe, Hillary L., Wagener, Sarah E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01-03-2018; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: African Americans; Babies; Blame; Breastfeeding & lactation; Campaigns; Child care; Fear & phobias; Guilt; Health behavior; Health promotion; Health status; Immunization; Injury Prevention Programs; Pediatrics; Public health; Qualitative research; Sleep; United States > US; SUID; health promotion; sleep-related infant death; SIDS; public education campaigns
• DOI: 10.1177/1524839917690339
• EISSN: 1552-6372
• ISSN: 1524-8399

The 1994 Back to Sleep public education campaign resulted in dramatic reductions in sleep-related infant deaths, but comparable progress in recent years has been elusive. We conducted qualitative analyses of recent safe sleep campaigns from 13 U.S. cities. Goals were to (a) determine whether the campaigns reflect the full range of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2011 safe sleep recommendations, (b) describe tone and framing of the messages (e.g., use of fear appeals), (c) describe targeting/tailoring of messages to priority populations, and (d) ascertain whether the campaigns have been evaluated for reach and/or effectiveness. Methods included computer-assisted analyses of campaign materials and key informant interviews. All campaigns included “ABC” (Alone, Back, Crib) messaging; many ignored other AAP recommendations such as breastfeeding, room-sharing, immunizations, and avoiding smoke exposure. Campaigns frequently targeted priority populations such as African Americans. Fear appeals were used in three quarters of the campaigns, and 60% of the fear-based campaigns used guilt/blame messaging. We did not find published evaluation data for any of the campaigns. More attention is needed in public education campaigns to the full range of AAP recommendations, and evaluations are needed to determine the impact of these interventions on knowledge, behavior, and health outcomes.