Raising the Profile of Diabetic Eye Disease Through a Targeted Multichannel Campaign

Background: All people with diabetes are at risk of developing diabetic eye disease (DED), a group of eye diseases and conditions that includes diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataract. Left untreated, DED can lead to loss of productivity and reduced quality of life. Research has shown that early diagnosis and timely treatment can prevent vision loss. 

Program background:

The National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) at the National Eye Institute established the DED Education Program to increase awareness about DED among people living with the disease, and those at higher risk for diabetes. American Diabetes Month (ADM), observed every November, plays a very important role in achieving this goal. Diabetes prevention messages gain prominence in the media during ADM, which provides an opportunity to disseminate NEHEP DED education messages. For ADM 2011, NEHEP implemented a strategy to position eye health as a crucial topic for people with diabetes, their families, and friends. The strategy to reach high-risk audiences with key messages used a three-pronged approach: (a) creating awareness among NEHEP Partnership organizations, diabetes management organizations, and community-based organizations through direct mail and e-blasts, (b) delivering a webinar to NEHEP Partnership organizations and diabetes healthcare professionals, and (c) conducting media outreach to target consumers directly.  

An umbrella theme and tagline was developed to unite ADM with DED and make it an important topic during the observance. The umbrella theme was Diabetic eye disease is a complication of diabetes and the tagline was Don’t lose sight of diabetic eye disease. Existing DED materials were updated to incorporate this theme and tagline as well as reflect new research findings and 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention diabetes data. 

Evaluation Methods and Results: The distribution of educational materials, promotion of DED, implementation of a webinar, and media outreach and follow-up increased visibility for DED and NEHEP in traditional and nontraditional media. Outreach efforts multiplied as Partnership organizations and other collaborators ordered approximately 35,500 DED resources to incorporate into their activities. The 2011 ADM media push garnered more than 36 million combined media impressions.

Conclusions: A multichannel campaign can increase the reach of eye health education messages, particularly when coordinated with a related national observance. NEHEP carefully structured their communication campaign to reach audiences through multiple channels, both mass media and interpersonal (via intermediaries). These approaches contribute to increasing awareness of DED among people who have diabetes, their families, and friends. 

Implications for research and/or practice: Reduced funding for health communication campaigns requires that practitioners find efficiencies in boosting the reach of their messages. A communication strategy that reaches out to both specific audiences and key intermediaries, can compound the reach of messages. Using multiple channels ensures that audiences receive information in different formats and from different sources, thereby increasing exposure to messages.