Designing for Dissemination: Lessons in Message Design From “1-2-3 Pap”

Abstract

Despite a large number of evidence-based health communication interventions tested in private, public, and community health settings, there is a dearth of research on successful secondary dissemination of these interventions to other audiences. This article presents the case study of “1-2-3 Pap,” a health communication intervention to improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination uptake and Pap testing outcomes in Eastern Kentucky, and explores strategies used to disseminate this intervention to other populations in Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Through this dissemination project, we identified several health communication intervention design considerations that facilitated our successful dissemination to these other audiences; these intervention design considerations include (a) developing strategies for reaching other potential audiences, (b) identifying intervention message adaptations that might be needed, and (c) determining the most appropriate means or channels by which to reach these potential future audiences. Using “1-2-3 Pap” as an illustrative case study, we describe how careful planning and partnership development early in the intervention development process can improve the potential success of enhancing the reach and effectiveness of an intervention to other audiences beyond the audience for whom the intervention messages were originally designed.