Evaluating a media campaign that targeted PTSD after Hurricane Katrina

This study evaluates a media campaign that targeted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Evaluation data come from telephone survey interviews of African Americans (N = 968), who were the target audience of the media campaign. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression indicates over-time improvements in campaign attention, PTSD beliefs, and PTSD preventive behaviors, whereas PTSD remained constant. Structural equation modeling offers support for a multistep model in which campaign attention influences PTSD beliefs, which influence PTSD preventive behaviors, which, in turn, influence PTSD. There is one across-step path from campaign attention directly to PTSD preventive behaviors. These two sets of findings signify the media campaign's positive role in influencing beliefs and preventive behaviors. Although PTSD remained unchanged, the improvements in PTSD beliefs and preventive behaviors may have been a means to subsequent abatement in PTSD.