Marketing impact of health education programs.

A study evaluating whether a lay public education program caused initiation of health-related behaviors was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Attendees of three individual "Health Talks" were surveyed: endometriosis (n = 78), men's health (n = 62) and cancer (n = 57). Participants were surveyed at three points: (a) before the talk, (b) immediately following the talk and (c) six weeks after the talk concerning their knowledge and health behaviors. The results indicated that community health education produces a substantial improvement in health-related knowledge and after attending the seminars, 81.3% of respondents initiated a positive health behavior. Of interest to health care marketers are the 30.8% of attendees who initiated health behaviors which have marketing implications.