The Mental Healthiness and Aging Initiative: Lessons from a Social Marketing-Informed Research Campaign in Kentucky

Abstract

The Mental Healthiness and Aging Initiative (MHAI) was a multifaceted social marketing-informed communication campaign designed to promote community awareness of mental health and aging. We hypothesized that MHAI would extend communication channels, providing a network for rapidly diffusing innovative mental health messages in Kentucky. Key messages discovered during formative research were incorporated into a communication campaign, which included a train-the-trainer curriculum, “Real Life Stories,” social advertising on radio and television, and a 12-month full-color calendar. We evaluated the impact of the train-the-trainer curriculum on the level of mental health and aging knowledge of Family and Consumer Science Agents in the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, who later diffused the campaign in local communities. Posttest scores showed a significant improvement ( p = .005) in objective knowledge about mental health and aging. Two months after diffusion of MHAI, a random telephone survey of 744 Kentucky residents found that respondents from the full-intervention counties more frequently reported feeling able to assist older adults with a potential mental illness ( p = .047) compared to residents in either partial intervention counties (social advertising only) or control counties (no contact). Lessons learned through the MHAI project can be applied by community mental health advocates to improve mental health outcomes.