Appendix D: WEST Story and Development of a fotonovela To test the completeness and feasibility of the draft of these Guidelines, EDC staff followed the Guidelines as we developed a pilot material for one community. The following are notes describing our experience working with Western Massachusetts Educación de seguridad en el tránsito (WEST), a community group in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to develop a Spanish-language material for the Latino community of western Massachusetts. This story offers an example of how a national organization (EDC), in consultation with two other national organizations (AAAFTS and NHTSA), developed a single material with and for a specific community. The fotonovela is provided in Appendix E. Getting Started We considered creating materials in three Massachusetts communities, all of which have large Latino populations. We selected Holyoke for several reasons: EDC was already familiar with this community, having worked there on a previous project called “Kids in the Back”; the community wanted to address traffic safety issues affecting Latinos in their locality; and the project’s senior research assistant worked in the area and had contacts with professionals and residents who were interested in this project. The EST senior research assistant spoke with colleagues and others in the community who had expertise in traffic safety, public health, and Latino health issues, and invited them to participate in a community advisory group. Six people came to the first meeting, learned about the project, and enjoyed lunch. The group named itself WEST (Western Massachusetts Educación de seguridad en el tránsito). Participants represented the Office of Child Care Services—West Springfield; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center; Western Massachusetts SAFE KIDS Coalition; the Holyoke Health Center; the Carson Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Services; and the University of Massachusetts—Amherst. These individuals continued to meet over the course of nearly a year to provide EDC with ideas and feedback. Determining the topic The first task for the WEST group was to select the topic to be addressed. EST staff began by reviewing existing materials and consulting the EST National Work Group, a group of national experts in traffic safety, Latino issues, and health communication. We decided that there was a need for Spanish-language materials addressing impaired driving, safety belts, and pedestrian safety. Because we wanted the WEST group to make the final choice of topic, at the first meeting with the group we presented general data on the three potential topics, as well as national data from NHTSA on traffic-related injuries and risk factors among Latinos. The group chose pedestrian safety. Members felt that, due to the State’s Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign, the community was already aware of the importance of using safety belts, and that more information existed on impaired driving than on pedestrian safety. Deciding Whether to Use Existing Materials At a WEST group meeting, we reviewed target audiences, messages, and topics in the pedestrian safety materials we had collected as part of our survey of Spanish-language materials, which was conducted earlier in the project. Our examination confirmed that very few materials addressed adult Latino drivers and pedestrians. Nor did the materials deal with the issues on which we planned to focus: environmental factors in pedestrian safety, the shared responsibility of drivers and pedestrians, and the consequences of unsafe behavior. 1. Identify Key Partners Traffic safety experts: Throughout the project, we drew on the expertise of our own staff, as well as staff from AAAFTS, the national and regional NHTSA offices, the injury prevention office at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau. In addition, the Western Massachusetts SAFE KIDS coalition and the Carson Center for Traumatic Brain Injury provided valuable information about local pedestrian safety issues. Health communication experts: We worked with The Media Network, Inc., a social marketing firm specializing in developing culturally appropriate messages for diverse communities. The Media Network was under contract with NHTSA, and therefore was available to work on our project. Latino culture experts: We were able to draw on the expertise of the national experts on our EST National Workgroup, as well as the local expertise provided by the members of the WEST group. 2. Understand Your Traffic Safety Topic Review Data on the Scope of the Problem To help WEST members understand the scope of the problem in their community, at the second meeting we provided them with local data on pedestrian injuries among Latinos: hospitalization data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and emergency department data from Safe Kids. We also provided traffic fatality data from NHTSA and summaries of research from other states on pedestrian injuries among Latinos. Review the Research on Preventing Traffic Injuries With the WEST group, we reviewed current pedestrian injury prevention information from NHTSA and the Massachusetts Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau. In addition, we reviewed information from other sources of pedestrian safety information, such as WalkBoston. Refine Your Topic At this point in the project, we needed to specify the aspect of pedestrian safety on which we would focus. Based on the information and research they had reviewed, WEST members agreed that both drivers and pedestrians were responsible for incidents resulting in pedestrian injuries, and that the material should therefore target both pedestrians and drivers. The group then decided that the material should target adults between the ages of 16 and 65. WEST selected this age group, rather than children and the elderly, for several reasons:
WEST decided that the material would target all Latinos. Although in the Holyoke area Latino residents are predominantly from Puerto Rico, many are also from other countries of origin. Initially we selected Holyoke for our target area and then expanded to the Chicopee–Springfield region because the agencies represented in our WEST group overlap and serve all of these areas. 3. Understand Your Audience Next, we needed to increase our understanding of the community’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior relevant to pedestrian safety, and to learn what methods community members thought would help prevent pedestrian injuries. Because EST staff did not have expertise in conducting focus groups, we hired an organization to train our bilingual staff in how to conduct focus groups, assist in developing questions, and help plan and co-facilitate the sessions. We conducted three focus groups, with a total of 32 people. The participants of these groups were predominantly of Puerto Rican descent age 16 through 65, the age group we had identified as our target audience. To prepare for the focus groups, we followed these steps:
Each group was conducted somewhat differently, depending on the preferences of the participants: One group was conducted in Spanish, the second was conducted bilingually in Spanish and English, and a third group was conducted in English, which was then translated into Spanish. The translated focus group took much longer, and the flow of the discussion was less smooth. Staff recorded the responses of all three groups. Key quotes were left in their original language and then “interpreted” into English. Understand Your Audience’s Demographics We did a demographic assessment of the Holyoke area using national and county data and discovered the following:
Understand How Your Audience Views Traffic Safety Issues The focus-group findings were key to understanding our target community. We found that a large number of participants had personal experience with pedestrian injury. Many participants expressed the misconception that the pedestrian always has the right of way. Focus-group participants felt that the following issues needed to be addressed:
Participants believed that traffic safety messages should do the following:
After we conducted and summarized the focus groups, we shared the results with WEST members. They gave us their reactions, adding context to some of the comments we had heard. For example, one WEST member talked about the challenge of getting a damaged sidewalk repaired and her eventual success in doing so; other members spoke about their understanding of the community’s relationship with the police. This feedback deepened our understanding of the community. 4. Develop Your Message and Content Make Sure That the Traffic Safety Content Is Accurate To refine the safety messages in the material, we consulted NHTSA. A staff member from NHTSA’s regional office was on-site for our photo shoot to ensure that all the behavior portrayed was consistent with pedestrian safety recommendations. Present Content in a Way That Is Culturally Appropriate Based on our focus-group findings, research, and input from WEST and the EST National Work Group, we made the following decisions about our material:
5. Use Accurate, Simple, and Appropriate Language Find a Good Writer Finding a writer was a difficult task. We advertised the position and made personal contacts with the state and local health departments, multicultural Web job search engines such as latpro.com, advertisement and public relations agencies, and organizations represented by WEST. Several trained translators and writers expressed interest in this project; however, they did not feel comfortable with all of aspects of the job: writing, message development, and cultural marketing. We eventually chose a media consulting company, The Media Network, Inc., which specialized in working with various cultures and had expertise in traditional marketing, social marketing, and working in the Latino community. One of our sponsors helped defray the costs of working with this group. Word Usage In collaboration with our media consultant, we made several decisions about writing the material:
6. Use Culturally Appropriate Format and Graphics Focus-group participants told us that, in general, they liked materials that were short and to the point and which grabbed the reader’s attention with colorful images. They also preferred photographs to cartoons or drawings. Participants did not like materials with small fonts, long words, or a lot of text. Based on our research, the focus-group results, WEST’s input, and the advice of our media consultant, we selected the following elements for our material:
7. Solicit Feedback from Your Audience and Partners We held a focus group to show members of our target audience a draft of the fotonovela. At this point, it contained drawings and text. One major question we wanted to answer was what character should serve as the “voice of reason,” the person who tells others the correct safety actions to take. We considered a crossing guard, a local business owner, and a nurse for the role. We also included a police officer as an option, even though WEST members believed, and other experts have concluded, that Latinos do not always have positive views of law enforcement officials. However, focus group participants stated clearly that they preferred to see a police officer in this role. Even though they rarely saw police enforcing pedestrian safety rules, they believed that police should promote pedestrian safety, and that people should expect them to do so. They believed that a Latino officer would be most appropriate and should be depicted in a helping role. A Latino officer from the Holyoke police force volunteered to be photographed for the fotonovela. This outcome exemplifies the importance of asking your audience to provide feedback on the material and not relying solely on “common knowledge” or “expert opinion.” Two months later, when the material was finalized, we held another focus group to make sure that the photos and finalized text were effective for the audience. Participants were able to state the key messages in the brochure, understood all the words, and indicated that the format was very engaging. They suggested two additions to the contact information on the back page. 8. Effectively Disseminate Your Material More than 17,000 copies of the fotonovela were distributed to various community organizations in Holyoke, Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, and Northampton, Massachusetts. They were shipped to organizations such as community health clinics, employment centers, Hispanic/Latino community groups, the local chapter of Safe Kids, and the local AAA clubs, for dissemination among their clientele. 9. Evaluate and Review Your Material AAAFTS performed a simple process evaluation of the fotonovela, to monitor the distribution of the material and assess the appropriateness of the material for the specific community as seen by the distributors in the community itself. Surveys were emailed to all organizations to which the fotonovela was shipped. Follow-up telephone calls were placed to non-respondents, and distributors without valid e-mail addresses were also contacted via telephone. Distributors were asked several questions pertaining to their ordering, receipt, and distribution of the fotonovela, and also about their impressions of its quality and appropriateness for their community. Specifically, they were asked to:
Responses were obtained from 55 percent of distributors who received shipments of the material. All respondents indicated that they believed the material would be either very or somewhat useful and appealing to members of their community. No respondents indicated that any of the Spanish language used was inappropriate or confusing. One respondent indicated that the brochure should be translated into English. One respondent indicated appreciation that the material was “not talking down to anyone;” however, another apparently inferred that the material primarily targeted children, which was not our intent as developers, and that adult readers might not “see themselves as part of the [pedestrian safety] problem.” An impact evaluation was not performed in Holyoke. Given the extensive community involvement in the development of the fotonovela, as well as the overwhelmingly positive responses from the community-level distributors, it was determined that the fotonovela met the stated objective of the project, namely, to use the Guidelines to develop one sample educational material. The resources that would have been required to conduct a thorough evaluation of the impact of the material on the knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors of end-users was determined to be beyond the scope of this project. The fotonovela is presented next, in appendix E. |