“Could it be asthma?”: the impact of a mass media campaign aimed at raising awareness about asthma in Australia

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Abstract
Asthma is a very common chronic illness in Australia; however, unrecognized and undertreated asthma is responsible for much preventable morbidity in the community. In 1988, a coalition of private and public sector agencies was formed to conduct a national mass communications program aimed at increasing awareness about asthma. This pilot campaign comprised a mailout to all primary care physicians and a mass media campaign, entitled “Could it be asthma?”. The impact of this media-based strategy was assessed using population surveys of 1300 adults before and after the campaign. Following the campaign, recall of recent asthma media messages increased from 24 to 49% (P < 0.001) and the proportion who recognized possible asthma symptoms in their household increased from 3.4 to 5.5% following the campaign. Of those with symptoms, twice as many reported that they visited a doctor to have their symptoms assessed after the campaign. Knowledge of asthma symptoms was significantly higher following the campaign (P < 0.001), after adjustment for age, sex and the presence of asthma in the respondents family. The campaign appeared to have some success in raising awareness about asthma, and has been followed by the development of a National Asthma Campaign in Australia focusing on reducing asthma morbidity and improving its management.

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