Question #3
Using the combination of your answers from the first two questions, what setting (one-on-one, group, school promotion, etc) do you think is optimal for promoting calcium, and why?
posted by Unknown @ 8:42 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
I believe a multidisciplinary approach will obtain optimal outcomes for calcium consumption among adolescents. If funding was not a constraint, promotion at the community, school, student, and parental level should ideally work together to promote increased calcium intake. Adolescents lives interact in many different environments, therefore, in order to achieve the greatest success, all those individuals and groups involved in their daily lives should be involved with an intervention.
I believe in using a combination of approaches in order to improve calcium intake. I would think a school promotion would be helpful as children do respond to peer pressure and they desire to fit in. Furthermore, some children may need more individualized recommendations as well. This would be recommended for individuals with cultural differences, lactose intolerance, lack of familial support, etc. I also think educating groups most closely affecting the children like family, teachers, DHS and community programs,etc. would benefit from enhanced knowledge on the importance of dietary calcium intake during childhood and adolescence. Using multiple approaches will reach more individuals and better meet their needs.
I definitely agree that multidisciplinary education is needed. For example, my milk (calcium) promotion targeted to 2 high schools with the intention to educate not only the students but the educators as well. Continueing to reach large venues such as schools, is a great start but it is just that--a great start!
I don't think that any one setting is optimal for promoting calcium. I agree with Breine and Nisa that that promoting calcium intake in many different settings is optimal. I think that school promotions are very important because many students eat 1-2 meals a day at school and most likely have snacks at school as well. There are a variety of things schools can do to encouage calcium intake such as offer milk in a variety of flavors, offer milk for sale before and after school, have milk vending machines avaliable, offer milk in plastic containers as oppose to cartons, advertise the importance of drinking milk for bone health, promotions, etc. An individual setting may be optimal for students who are lactose intolerant or who do not like dairy. They most likely need individual guidance on how to get an adequate amount of calcium in their diets. I think that community promotions are imporant especially for adolescents from families with limited incomes.
Since teenagers tend to be influenced by their peers, I would say school promotion or celebrity endorsements would be the best route to promote calcium. I know the got milk campaign is thought to help increase milk consumption, but I think if schools didn't offer beverages other than milk and water, consumption might increase. However, that isn't always feasible with schools profiting off of soda and other beverage sales. I do know from my time interning in school foodservice that the milk chugs helped to boost milk sales in schools because of the attractive packaging. They look way "cooler" than the traditional milk carton. So I guess the best way to promote calcium and dairy is to make it attractive and cool.
I agree that all methods should be used if the funding is available. If funding is limited I think the focus should be on the school campaigns because they can make the campaign for their students. They can have fun games and prizes that their students would enjoy. If you can get students envolved and learn why milk consumption and calcium are important they may start to drink more milk.
There are a lot of factors to consider when planning a promotion, like funding, who the population is, and how much milk they drink now. After identifying what the needs are of the population I would try to do activities in the schools. Having an integrative education session that is memorable is a good start but then having posters by the milk coolers as a reminder is important. I think kids like competition and contests so anything that can be done with a dairy log, or milk sales in the lunchroom to demonstrate increased milk consumption with fun prizes can be a fun idea.
I am a big advocate for spending time in the schools to educate on calcium. It is a great way to show them that they are the ones making the decisions, not the parents. Not to mention, as students spend 1/3 of their day at school and 1-2 meals there, this population is relatively easy to target. Like most of you said, schools are a great venue for educating. There are SO many different outlets to advertise. With that, this could be one way to market non-milk calcium products for those lactose intolerant or who dislike milk. I think it would be just as easy to market to this group than it would be to milk consumers. Mary Ellen, I completely agree with you about promotions and education. Through my promotion I tried to increase the sale of milk through the school vending machines while trying to promote calcium. What was lacking was the education segment. Educating is just as important as promoting. Next time.
Nice suggestions ladies. Sounds like we are ready to head back to the schools for milk or calcium promotions!
Brittany,
I think that you made a good point that it is important to get students involved. Maybe a good way to promote milk consumption would be to have a group of students promote it to other students. Most kids want to fit in so if they see that their peers are drinking milk and promoting milk consumption they are probably more likely to drink milk themselves.
Brittany and Lisa,
I agree with getting the students involved in the milk promotion. Maybe students can take turns being in charge of the "dairy cooler" and they get certain prizes based on how much was sold that day. Sometimes kids can be pretty persuasive without even trying too hard.
Well, school promotion has been shown to be successful. I agree that calcium promotion should go beyond dairy products. One on one or group would be helpful for those with intolerances or dislikes of dairy products.
Andrea said...
mine is the anonymous post above (having troubles logging in).
Andrea said...
I agree with Mary Ellen about just how many factors go into funding and planning promotions. You definitely need creativity on the front lines, especially with everything else that kids are bombarded with these days. For little kids, I think promoting milk with cartoon characters would be widely popular.
Andrea said...
I also agree about the choices available to students these days may lead them away from milk. Not only is there soda pop, but numerous other soft drinks with just as many empty calories as pop. I remember drinking milk at school when I was little because that's all there was.
Lisa, Mary Ellen, and Andrea:
I couldn't agree more on the school promotions. Getting students involved is a great way to get them to drink the milk thus calcium! Even something as little as throwing in a fun calcium fact in the school announcements might help!!!
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