An overview and analysis of the Health Style campaign

In 1981, the Office of Health Information and Health Promotion of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a national health promotion media campaign titled Health Style. The purposes of the Health Style campaign were: to increase public awareness of the effects of life-style on health; to enable persons to assess which life-style changes would be most conducive to their health; to stimulate information-seeking behavior and; to foster the development of local health promotion activities and referral networks. The campaign was implemented in nine test communities across the United States. This article: provides an overview of the campaign; examines strategies used to implement the campaign in three local communities and; presents the findings of evaluations conducted at both the national and local levels. A summary of lessons learned from the Health Style campaign experience is included in the article.