Our project will develop and test a package of 5 A Day educational materials presented in audio. These will be adapted for radio broadcast, informational cassettes and in-store programming. Audio offers a powerful, inexpensive and underutilized channel for delivering health information. To investigate the effectiveness of this medium, in Phase I we created one half-hour audiotape, entitled Gimme 5. The target audience for this intervention was young adults. The findings show the efficacy of audio as a tool for changing listeners' knowledge and attitudes regarding fruit and vegetable consumption. In Phase II, targeting a broader adult audience, we will further develop the concept by creating a package of four new half-hour productions. From these and other materials we will also derive 20 short, PSA-style segments. Listener response will then be measured in two settings with viable commercial potential: college campuses where the messages will reach students via radio and cassette distribution; and supermarkets where the messages will reach shoppers via in-store audio and also be made available on cassette. We will assess the impact of these interventions on listeners' knowledge, attitudes as well as level of fruit and vegetable purchase and consumption.
Nutrition education messages, disseminated by radio, will be available for sponsorship by the food industry. Cassette tapes will be available for sale to the public and for institutional purchase. Message segments can licensed to supermarkets for transmission on in-store radio.
