Birth control campaigns for youths and young adults: From the perspectives of different organizations

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the common features of birth control campaigns for youths and young adults, designed by public and private organizations. Methods: Our team conducted a scan for birth control campaigns, through both online resources and bulletin boards. We limited our search to English language birth control campaigns only, those that were released between January 2014 to March 2016, and campaigns that are targeted towards youths. Results: After applying all the limitations, we were left with 11 campaigns. We summarized the content and the communication mode of the campaigns into 4 broad categories: government, non-government, private, and school boards. Birth control campaigns are generally informative and designed to attract the attention of a specific target population. In general, most campaigns are tailored in a culturally appropriate manner to increase community members’ receptiveness towards this topic. Conclusion: Birth control campaigns have been used to disseminate birth control options to youths and young adults. The interactive and personalized campaign quotes were mainly used to help attract target audiences and spread public health messages about the use birth control measures. Future birth control campaigners should consider using these features to help them design and deliver their campaigns.

Keywords:

• birth control
• campaigns
• public health

Public Interest Statement

Public health campaigns, such as posters, banners and online websites, have been used as a form of medium to communicate health related information to the public. The topic on birth control has been a public health concern as sexual health and unwanted pregnancies are considered part of women’s health. As such, most government public health agencies have developed birth control campaigns to raise awareness about safe sex, and the different types of contraception available within the community. However, birth control campaigns have drawn the attention of other organizations such as non-government organizations, private companies, and school boards. These organizations have taken an active role in promoting birth control campaigns to different target audiences – youths, or community leaders. It is important that birth control campaigns not only target sexually active individuals, but also community leaders who can influence or implement culturally relevant birth control measures within their local community members.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interest.

Acknowledgements

Our team would like to thank the Public Health Faculty at Western University, Canada for giving graduate students the opportunity to work as a team and aim for publication.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Joanne Tay

This paper was put together by 5 graduate students and 1 faculty advisor from the University of Western Ontario, Masters of Public Health program. Each team member has an interest in health communications, as such, we came together to synthesize what have different organizations done to promote birth control campaigns. The first author, Joanne Tay, is a current PhD student at the University of Toronto. Her main research interest is in public health related issues such as women and child’s health. She identified that birth control options are not always accessible for young girls who are sexually active because of political constrains or funding limitations. The purpose of this paper is therefore to synthesize and provide an overview of what different organizations are doing, and how similar organizations could adopt or adapt similar methods to promote birth control measures in their community.