Report 1 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (I-00)
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Domestic Violence Information and Movie Theaters

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At the 1999 Interim Meeting, the House of Delegates adopted Resolution 419, which called upon the American Medical Association (AMA) to study the Baltimore County Medical Association's (BCMA) experience in developing a public service announcement (PSA) on domestic violence for screening in movie theaters. The Council on Scientific Affairs (CSA) has provided this informational report to facilitate efforts by other interested parties to duplicate this effort.

The Baltimore County Program

In 1995 the BCMA formed an ad hoc committee to address the issue of escalating violence in the community, an issue of deep concern to the medical society. The BCMA Violence Prevention Committee's mission includes educating both physicians and the public about issues surrounding violence. The committee addresses a broad range of violence issues, including media violence and its effects on youth, gun violence, and family violence, especially domestic violence, which our AMA cites as an international public health problem.

In an effort to educate the public about domestic violence, the Violence Prevention Committee contacted owners and managers of local movie theaters about PSAs focused on domestic violence. The BCMA learned that film (moving) spots could not be used but still slides were permissible, subject to space availability and a fee for production costs. The manager of the local (Baltimore area) Sony/Loews chain was cooperative in saving space for the BCMA in October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Some theater chains do not have local management able to make these decisions, but some do. Information on theater ownership and other assistance may also be available from the National Association of Theater Owners whose help might be enlisted.

The still slide, using BCMA text and hot line phone number and graphics, was produced by the theater chain's local production company and spliced into the promos run before each showing of feature films for the month. The slide is shown three times for ten seconds during each set of promos before each show. The cost was approximately $350 to produce the master slide and $3 for each copy, or $9 per screen. The final costs depend on how many screens the available budget allows. Each chain will, of course, have its own parameters and costs. Joining in regional efforts will reduce the production cost of the master slide, which can then be reused in subsequent years with minimal costs incurred.

The BCMA slide was shown at all Baltimore County Sony/Loew's theaters during the month of October in 1998 and 1999, reaching a wide audience of moviegoers in Baltimore County. No formal measures of audience size are available, however. The slides are planned for use in 2000, but at the time this report was being prepared, the particulars were not yet known.

The slide can be modified and adapted for local, regional or national use. A local number or the national hot line phone number (1-800-799-SAFE) may be used.

The BCMA's slide, which includes a colored background and the BCMA logo, includes the following text:

"There is no excuse for domestic violence!

Help is available for victims and their abusers."

Call 1-800-MD-HELPS

A message from the Baltimore County Medical Association

 A similar effort was undertaken by the Montgomery County (Maryland) Medical Society as well. In fact, this effort was based on the Baltimore County program and followed the same pattern. However, their production costs were lower, and the slide appeared on somewhat fewer screens. The tagline on their slide was, "Physicians dedicated to the health of our community."

Public Health Advertising

As noted above, no formal measures of audience size are available for this effort nor are there other measures of the program's impact. However, some evidence does suggest that such public service campaigns can at least raise awareness of the problem of intimate partner violence within the community. The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), for example, has collected data before and after the airing of its PSAs on domestic violence and found greater awareness of the problem after the PSAs aired than before.¹ The FVPF is now assessing the usefulness of PSAs in moving people to take action to deal with domestic violence (Lisa James, oral communication, 14 August 2000).

A number of other programs aimed at public health issues have also employed the mass media, with those using multiple educational tools tending to show the strongest impact. Among those projects with well-documented results are media-based cardiovascular disease risk reduction programs, which produced favorable results over the last quarter of the 1900s.^2,3  Evidence for the value of media campaigns for tobacco control is also appearing more frequently in the scientific literature.⁴ Further information on social marketing efforts using the mass media may are provided by Siegel and Doner. ⁵

Conclusion

The CSA believes that the BCMA and the Montgomery County Medical Society have found a reasonably priced mechanism to reach large numbers of people. Their programs stand a good chance of helping patients, and both societies should be congratulated for their innovative and proactive efforts on behalf of patients.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Because this is an informational report, it does not contain recommendations.

References

1. Klein E, Campbell J, Soler E, Ghex M. Ending Domestic Violence: Changing Public Perceptions/Halting the Epidemic. Thousand Oaks, CA; 1997.
2. Puska P, Vartiainen E, Tuomilehto J, Salomaa V, Nissinen A. Changes in premature deaths in Finland: successful long-term prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Bull World Health Organ. 1998;76:419-25
3. Farquhar JW, Maccoby N, Solomon DS. Community applications of behavioral medicine. In: Gentry WD, ed. Handbook of Behavioral Medicine. New York: Guilford; 1984:chap 11.
4. Pechmann C, Reibling ET. Anti-smoking advertising campaigns targeting youth: case studies from USA and Canada. Tob Control. 2000;9 Suppl 2:II18-I31.
5. Siegel M, Doner L. Marketing Public Health: Strategies to Promote Social Change. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen; 1998.

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