Photo-Enhanced Health Promotion Messages to Target Reduction in Dietary Sugar among Residents of Public Housing

Interventions intended to reduce the consumption of dietary sugars among those population groups demonstrating disproportionately greater and more frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and foods (SSBF) would benefit from intervention strategies that are tailored to population-specific barriers and facilitators. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the acceptability of photo-enhanced and theory-based health promotion messages that target the reduction in SSBF among adult residents of public housing developments, a population known for their high rates of chronic disease. Using the message development tool as a framework, we developed a series of 15 SSBF reduction messages, using an iterative process with community member input. We then evaluated the acceptability of the messages and compared three delivery mechanisms: print, text, and social media. We recruited participants who were residents of urban public housing developments, and who spoke either English or Spanish. A majority of participants identified as being of Hispanic ethnicity (73%). The message acceptability scoring did not appear to differ according to the assigned delivery mechanism, despite some imbalances in participants’ characteristics across delivery mechanisms. The messages that targeted motivation were least likely to be accepted. In conclusion, our findings suggest that engaging members of the community at all phases of the development process was a feasible method to develop SSBF reduction messages with a high perceived acceptability.