Take Care of Them: Using Public Service Announcements to Increase Awareness about Diabetic Eye Disease

Background: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2011, 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3 percent of the population—had diabetes; another 79 million adults were considered to be prediabetic. Diabetic eye disease (DED) refers to a group of eye problems, including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataract, that people with diabetes may face as a complication of this disease. DED has no warning signs and can cause severe vision loss or even blindness. Finding and treating the disease early, before it causes vision loss or blindness, is the best way to control DED.

Program background: NEHEP’s Diabetic Eye Disease Program raises awareness about DED among all people with diabetes, particularly those at higher risk for vision loss, including African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and older adults. Through its outreach, NEHEP stresses the need for people with diabetes to have a comprehensive dilated eye examination at least once a year. NEHEP developed a series of public service announcements (PSAs) targeted to African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and older adults to increase awareness about DED. The PSAs were distributed to more than 1,500 publications intended for these priority audiences. The PSAs were then used as part of an out-of-home placement effort to increase their reach. Ads were placed in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia, which are top media markets for African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos, have high incidence rates of diabetes, and have high-ridership transit systems.

Evaluation Methods and Results: This study used a pre–post intervention evaluation design using secondary sources of data. Outcome data that specifically made a link between the public’s viewing of the PSAs to their actually seeking additional information and/or eye care, was not collected. Data were collected from the secondary sources listed below for the three months prior to the placement of the out-of-home PSAs and for the two months during their placement. The DED PSAs reached over 12.4 million people. Immediately following PSA placement, web hits and page views reached their highest points. In addition, there was a significant increase in orders placed for diabetic eye disease publication. This effort complemented ongoing promotional activities carried out by NEHEP. Diabetic eye disease resources targeting Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans and older adults will also be discussed.

Conclusions: The goal of the PSA placement effort was to increase awareness about DED among three priority audiences. Despite the scope of distribution and the short placement time frame, several outcomes indicate that the PSA placement effort achieved its goal of raising awareness in select markets.

Implications for research and/or practice: Future efforts should incorporate additional tactics to help increase the target audiences’ exposure to the message, including utilizing key gatekeepers for delivery and identifying and addressing barriers to the desired behavior.