An Overview and Analysis of the Health Style Campaign

Abstract
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: (1) to increase public awareness of the effects of life-style on health; (2) to enable persons to assess which life-style changes would be most conducive to their health; (3) to stimulate information-seeking behavior and; (4) 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: (1) provides an overview of the campaign; (2) examines strategies used to implement the campaign in three local communities and; (3) 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.