Choose life: putting some extra marketing spin on public health

Researchers at the University of Technology, Sydney will use their expertise in modelling what people want to tackle the serious problem of obesity.

The team of UTS experts in health economics and marketing will be the community connection for the new Australian Centre for Metabolic Fitness, a cooperative research initiative involving five universities of the Australian Technology Network (ATN).

The Centre's brief is to identify the best way of improving the health of Australians through changes in exercise and diet. An important part will be assessing how the programs designed by nutritionists, exercise scientists and public health experts will be received by their target audience.

UTS lead investigator, Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) Associate Professor Marion Haas, said that a major issue with suggesting lifestyle changes is whether people will actually make the changes.

"That's where our research comes in," she said. "The biomedical researchers can identify what works in the laboratory, but we also need to know whether people will buy the products, or change their behaviour and what is most likely to make them stick with it."

Dr Kate Owen from the School of Marketing in the Faculty of Business said the UTS team would use a research technique called Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE), widely used in marketing, but rarely used to test preventative public health interventions.

"DCEs involve respondents choosing from different cost, time and convenience options," she said. "Based on their choices, we can then predict how different people will respond to different products and programs.

"Another factor we will consider is whether people will respond differently depending on who is delivering the health message - will you pay more attention to your own doctor than a television ad?"

Haas said the findings would provide a better understanding of what factors motivate people to change their lifestyle.

"The research is about providing improved products and programs that people will support and adopt to improve their health, with all of the associated physical, social and psychological benefits," she said.

The Centre for Metabolic Fitness was formed as a response by the ATN universities to the Federal Government's National Research Priority of 'Promoting and Maintaining the Good Health of Australians'. The Centre has an overall budget of $6 million for its first five years, made up of a $2 million award under the inaugural ATN Research Challenge and support from the food industry, CSIRO and other public health agencies.