News
Innovative Campaign Pays off for HRiA
A page from the Serve Smart toolkit that advises restaurants on relevant Massachusetts laws.
January 5, 2011
When it came to combating underage drinking, HRiA took a novel approach: instead of trying to change the behavior of young drinkers, they created an educational campaign targeting the retailers who might be selling them the alcohol. While the campaign's focus was informed by extensive research and interviews with experts and merchants alike, the question remained, would it work?
To answer this question, HRiA built in a rigorous evaluation process to measure the efficacy of the Serve Smart/Sell Smart project. The results, published in the online October 2010 edition of the Journal of Community Health, indicate it's on the right track.
"Retailers who received the materials were significantly more likely to discuss the issue of underage drinking with staff and significantly more likely to post informative signs," explained Lisa Wolff, ScD, director of research and evaluation at HRiA.
The results are seen as "signs of a changing retail environment that is both receptive to the health message and willing to act on it," according to Jodie Silverman, HRiA's director of health communications.
The Serve Smart/Sell Smart toolkit consists of signs, stickers, fact sheets and tips on checking identification.
For the evaluation, 209 retailers, including bars, restaurants and package stores, were separated into randomized groups by community. Five communities received the toolkit, five didn't and were placed in the control group. The two sets of communities were matched along several demographic lines to make the study more rigorous. A baseline phone survey was conducted before the toolkits were distributed and another survey was done three months after they were received.
The study also yielded recommendations for improving the campaign's effectiveness and is a key reason why HRiA employs evaluations in its projects, according to Silverman.
"Comprehensive evaluations like this provide us with an objective review of our work to date as well as an informed path for future program development," Silverman said.
The Serve Smart/Sell Smart campaign was also recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it was presented at the their Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media in August. The project was funded by Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.
To answer this question, HRiA built in a rigorous evaluation process to measure the efficacy of the Serve Smart/Sell Smart project. The results, published in the online October 2010 edition of the Journal of Community Health, indicate it's on the right track.
"Retailers who received the materials were significantly more likely to discuss the issue of underage drinking with staff and significantly more likely to post informative signs," explained Lisa Wolff, ScD, director of research and evaluation at HRiA.
The results are seen as "signs of a changing retail environment that is both receptive to the health message and willing to act on it," according to Jodie Silverman, HRiA's director of health communications.
The Serve Smart/Sell Smart toolkit consists of signs, stickers, fact sheets and tips on checking identification.
For the evaluation, 209 retailers, including bars, restaurants and package stores, were separated into randomized groups by community. Five communities received the toolkit, five didn't and were placed in the control group. The two sets of communities were matched along several demographic lines to make the study more rigorous. A baseline phone survey was conducted before the toolkits were distributed and another survey was done three months after they were received.
The study also yielded recommendations for improving the campaign's effectiveness and is a key reason why HRiA employs evaluations in its projects, according to Silverman.
"Comprehensive evaluations like this provide us with an objective review of our work to date as well as an informed path for future program development," Silverman said.
The Serve Smart/Sell Smart campaign was also recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it was presented at the their Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media in August. The project was funded by Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.
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