Culturally Relevant Community-Based Video Health Messaging

Background: Meharry Medical College (MMC), a historically African-American academic health center, collaborated with Discovery Health Channel (DHC) through its MMC Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Wellness Project to develop relevant health messaging competition targeting risky health behaviors.  Using that theme, collegiate teams at Tennessee HBCUs (Fisk University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College and Knoxville College) were each instructed to develop, write, and produce a 3- to 4-minute video message.  This extracurricular process required college students to create messages targeting change in communities representing health disparities by focusing on a specific health disparity; its cause and effect, and a demonstration of its prevention or modification.  The cultural relevance of this assignment was using language and images that their target audience could relate to thus incorporating those behavioral changes.

Program background: The primary goal of the HBCU Wellness Project is to leverage educational and service oriented resources at HBCUs to positively impact the health and well being of Tennessee residents.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Each campus’s Wellness Project Program Coordinator worked and coordinated with MMC to provide video production resources to each undergraduate HBCU student team. Each HBCU campus had a minimum of six students to participate as the core production team, regardless of the number of students actually acting in the final edit of the videos.    MMC maintained constant communication with DHC to provide coordination of logistical details (filming consents, camera angles, lighting, timing, message integrity, location selection, and editing) involved to maintain a month-long production schedule at the 4 campuses.  Fisk University developed a health message entitled “Become a Health Message”.  This message described how African-American students could improve their daily health.  LeMoyne Owen College’s message was ”Decrease Infant Mortality” and  focused on preventing infant mortality in African-Americans through pre-conception health choices.    Knoxville College’s was “My Hair Is Not More Important than My Health”.  This message targeted one of the barriers some African-American women describe as preventing them from participating in regular exercise programs.  Lane College called their message:  “Like Me, Know Your Status”. These students addressed the importance of knowing a significant other’s HIV status and the non-invasive nature of present-day HIV testing.   DHC is utilizing the production process and the final edited products as examples of culturally relevant communication to guide their production teams nationwide.  The HBCU Wellness Project has been recognized by the State of Tennessee for this unique health education tool promoting change and highlighting the national partnership with Discovery Communications.

Conclusions: The collaboration between the MMC HBCU Wellness Project and Discovery Health Communications represents an innovative approach to addressing health disparities by having collegians from underserved communities provide the culturally relevant health messaging that will promote change in knowledge, attitude and behavior.   The students have expanded their interest in health careers to include health communication and marketing because of the experience with developing the videos, leading to a better understanding of the significance of social marketing from a health perspective.  

Implications for research and/or practice: The health messages themselves can now be tested in various venues that include community forums, health fairs, workshops, schools and other opportunities to disseminate health education and outreach.