Messageworks: Crafting and Defending Effective Messages

Background: Maintaining efficacy and relevance in a changing communication landscape is a challenging task for busy health communication professionals. Often, it requires the dedication of a significant amount of time to reading, digesting, and applying what research and peer feedback suggest are the most effective factors for a successful message. 

Program background: In response to this need, this session introduces MessageWorks: a research-based analytic tool that centralizes message development and provides a means for networked feedback and thoughtful exchange between health communication professionals.

Evaluation Methods and Results: MessageWorks is an analytic tool CDC DCPC and ORISE developed using an audience-centered design process to meet the message development needs of health communication professionals. MessageWorks leverages research published by Drs. Punam Keller and Donald Lehmann in 2008 to provide dynamic, measured feedback for messages within the context of the diverse populations they seek to influence. This presentation introduces MessageWorks’ interactive tutorial, and starts the audience along the current three-stage process offered by the HealthCommWorks suite to improve key elements of a health communication plan. Specifically, it will highlight 1) how the research-driven algorithm within MessageWorks codes messages and offers suggestions for crafting messages most likely to change an audience’s health behavior intentions; 2) an interactive flashcard activity, a feature of the tool’s tutorial that will help users learn from Dr. Keller how to code key message variables; and 3) the social features of MessageWorks, which links professionals and project teams together to provide feedback. In addition to this demonstration, a staffed booth will be available before and after this presentation to encourage and assist those interested in testing MessageWorks out on their own messages.

Conclusions: Through the use of a research-based algorithm and guided tutorial for message coding, MessageWorks addresses the need for a simple, audience-centered tool that reduces the time required to produce effective messages. Furthermore, MessageWorks brings message development into the social arena by reducing the time needed to form collaborative professional teams, and improves a professional’s ability to engage other health communication professionals for message development.

Implications for research and/or practice: MessageWorks offers the community of health communication professionals a research-based, accessible and effective way to (1) improve health message relevance and (2) enhance the scope and organization of feedback from other team or HealthCommWorks members. As an integrated part of the HealthCommWorks suite, MessageWorks is one tool every health communicator needs to improve the development of messages within health communication plans.