A recent grant announcement from the CDC seeks to "build, support, and enhance state arthritis programs to substantially expand the access, availability and use of arthritis-appropriate evidence-based interventions...Furthermore, this announcement is designed to develop and maintain partnerships focused on: intervention dissemination and implementation, policy development and implementation, communications, and coordination with other chronic disease prevention/health promotion programs to further arthritis program goals."
So let me see, if we think about this as social marketers:
they want to improve product and service delivery of arthritis-appropriate interventions by using evdience-based approaches,
improve access and availability of these interventions,
increase reach and scale of programs,
alter the marketplace (context) in which therse interventions are embedded (presumably to change the costs and incentives for launching and particpating in these interventions),
craft communications around these efforts,
and coordinate activities with other players in the public health marketplace.
It sure sounds like they are looking for social marketing approaches to solving the puzzle. I wonder how many states will recognize the pattern;
AND I wonder if anyone will be focusing on including current and potential users of the programs in co-creating and implementing their approaches. It's interesting to me that the full announcement never refers to 'people who have arthritis' in their detailed approach to implementation. Another example of public health resistance to being people (market)-oriented?
SO much room for improvement - still.
Comments