Soundbites: The Power of Web-Based Knowledge Exchange to Share Best Practices and Build Grantee Capacity for Media Outreach

Background: High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States, respectively. Nine out of 10 American adults eat more than the recommended daily amount of sodium, a key contributor to high blood pressure.

Program background: Raising awareness about high blood pressure and sodium is an important step toward creating heart-healthy communities and improving the lives of all Americans. The Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports more than 70 grantees across the United States working to prevent heart disease and stroke, including state and local health departments and tribal organizations. In addition to funding, DHDSP provides grantees with technical assistance and resources—such as training, consumer fact sheets, and media materials—to implement disease prevention and health promotion initiatives at the state and local levels. The Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP), though which DHDSP awarded five grants to county and state health departments in 2010, is just one example of efforts to lower rates of high blood pressure by reducing sodium intake and improving food environments. Grantees, however, vary significantly in their capacity to carry out successful media outreach due to a wide range of limitations and challenges. To maximize the reach and effectiveness of grantee outreach efforts, in 2011 DHDSP launched “Soundbites,” a series of technical assistance webinars that provide grantees with real-world strategies for working with the media, developing successful pitches, drafting and testing effective messages, and conducting related communications activities. Each webinar is designed to improve grantee understanding and competence in communicating to the media and the public about sodium and high blood pressure. The one-hour sessions include a topical expert, a grantee speaker sharing on-the-ground experience, an interactive question-and-answer period with grantees, other expert presenters, and CDC representatives, and end with an interactive online evaluation survey.

Evaluation Methods and Results: The first webinar in the series, “Earned Media 101,” was held in February 2011 and had more than 100 participants. In a post-webinar survey, 98% of respondents indicated the webinar increased their understanding of the topic, and 100% of respondents said they plan to attend future sessions.

Conclusions: DHDSP’s Soundbites webinar series has demonstrated potential to improve the effectiveness of grantee efforts to garner media attention and increase awareness of high blood pressure and sodium. Each live session is archived on the DHDSP Web site as a cost-effective, evergreen resource grantees can use to further build staff expertise, and educate partners and stakeholders.

Implications for research and/or practice: Tackling public health challenges such as the epidemic of high blood pressure and reducing population-wide sodium intake are priorities for CDC. However, the current budget landscape limits the resources available to tackle these important issues. Using Web and other new technologies to deliver training and technical assistance eliminates the need for travel and other costly elements, while still fostering successful, educational, and engaging knowledge-exchange opportunities.