Use of mass-media and active involvement in a national dental health campaign in Scotland.

This paper describes the evaluation of a Dental Health Mass-Media Campaign directed at 5-7-yr-old children and their mothers. It aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness of dental health by making use of three different components: inserts in women's magazines; television commercial; material for home use distributed at schools. In order to study the relative recollection of the three components a representative quota sample of 164 mothers and 164 children were interviewed. The analysis of the results showed a high degree of recollection of the campaign in general. The material for use at home, distinguished from the other two components by demanding an active involvement of the participants, had the largest impact. The television commercial, merely demanding a passive involvement of the participants, was less well remembered, and the magazine insert had the lowest recollection. It is suggested that future national health education campaigns combine the mass-media approach to increase health awareness with active involvement activities to stimulate behavioural changes.