Abstract Depression has become very popular in today's society. One way that might be able to help it is by creating a health message design that will promote a change in the persons' behavior. In this case, we are promoting better mental health for these individuals by caring for an animal.
That being said people were interviewed on what their thoughts were for this topic. In the interviews it was found that people take this mental illness very seriously, it is very common among their peers, people need to seek help when dealing with depression, and they believe caring for animals can be beneficial to individuals with depression.
The primary features of the message are to find a way for people with depression to obtain a better mental health that can be easily attainable. Animals helping with depression In order to develop a theo
...ry-based health message to change students', we need to begin by researching which behaviors/actions are beneficial for promoting better mental health for people with depression. The behavior for this specific topic is caring for an animal. After choosing the topic you need to gather some questions to ask and interview 30 Texas A&M students over this topic.
These interviews are important for the message design project so that the researcher can conclude whether students would actually partake in caring for an animal when dealing with depression and why or why not would it be helpful. You need to use a theory-based message because 'a theory is a prediction on how events and actions are related. It helps predict and explain human behavior and guides strategic communication decisions”. Since depression is the main focus for mental
illness in this paper we need to find out why exactly these students are depressed and how to fix it.
Many researchers concluded that depression is one of the top mental health issues among college students, “Between 9.5% and 31.3% of college students suffer from depression” (Bohon, 2016). It is obvious that depression might be so common amongst college students because they are not used to the responsibilities that college students have to adapt to such as “waking themselves up for classes, getting along with roommates, making new friends, or confronting choices about drinking and dating” (emotional support).
Another factor to consider as a cause of depression is the amount of stress made by college-level courses and the cost of tuition. According to other findings, most students who deal with depression are less social with people in their courses, are often alone, and have “negative effects on their academic functioning, such as coming late, falling asleep, and being bored in class” (Bohon, 2016).
According to a journal by Michael T. Hartley these negative effects often make it very likely for people with mental illnesses like depression to not finish their degrees. In fact, it is so likely that it 'is twice as high as the general college drop-out rate, which is estimated to be between 30% and 40%” (Hartley, 2013). Not only can depression lead to dropping out of school, but also can lead to more serious mental illnesses, as well as, suicide.
This is exactly why when designing a health message design for this topic you want to get the attention of college students who are struggling with depression. There are multiple ways that students can improve their
mental health, but in this specific case, we are dealing with caring for an animal. Emotional support animals have recently become more popular in today's culture. This topic is especially popular here at Texas A&M since the university has a service dog program. Animals are known for being a man's best friend because they make great companions and are usually very loving.
That being said, there has been a lot of research on the impact pets leave on human beings lives. In fact, according to Bergen, 'Substantial research across the health sciences provides evidence of the human health benefits, including physiological, psychological, and emotional, that can be derived from human-animal interactions”. Also, in the journal by Adams, she states, “Pets are an integral part of the everyday lives of many people in this country and there have been numerous studies on the physical and mental health benefits of animal companionship to people, including stress buffering and facilitation of social interaction”.
Another way animals can be beneficial to people dealing with depression is that they are not only companions but, “Animals are present, nonjudgmental, accepting, open, and friendly” (Schramm, 2015) they give their owners someone to talk to other than a human being. Therefore, we can see how caring for an animal may be beneficial in many aspects other than mental health. Finding this specific promotion will help the theory that; college students suffering from depression should care for an animal to improve their mental health. This step is a very important part in this message design because it directs people with depression to a certain act that they can participate in.
During the interviews, the interviewee's had different
aspects of the questions being asked. The researcher would need to narrow down the message of promoting better mental health by taking care of an animal to a specific subgroup of students. For example, in the interview there was a question asked about 'what factors, circumstances or settings might enable or make it easier for you to care for an animal?', and a majority of the answers would be similar to having enough space for the animal like a backyard.
From this, the interpreter can conclude that they need to aim the health message ad to specifically people who have space/yard for an animal. A lot of people also mentioned that having friends/roommates would be helpful if the individual was caring for a dog so that they could help out. So, not only aiming the message at people who have enough space for an animal but also towards people that have roommates or friends nearby that can help out. Another common response that was found was that people didn't think you should care for an animal if you work and go to school or are really busy.
Therefore, aiming the message also towards people who have enough free time to dedicate to the animal. These three topics are the main factors that were found as most important in choosing who the message should be aimed towards. This step is significant because it helps narrow down the information to a specific group of people who would be able to handle caring for an animal, instead of neglecting it by not having the right home for it, the support system, or the time for it. When dealing with message
design behavioral theory plays a significant role.
According to NCI 2004 “Behavioral theory offers insights into the current behavior of target market members and what might influence or change that behavior”. Even though messages can’t change behavior directly; they can change variables that in turn lead to behavior. Behavioral theory is important with message design because it helps the researcher understand more about the current people they are interviewing and how to find their main target audience they are trying to help so that they can influence or change that behavior.
For example, when interviewing people on the promotion of caring for an animal to help with depression, you need to be able to refine your target after making sense of the data collected from the interviews so that you can create a message that can change the behavior of people with depression. When creating a message design to get the attention of your target audience you also need to incorporate reasoned action theory which basically means how are you going to persuade someone from giving them information that will make them change their behaviors.
There are three key concepts when dealing with reasoned action and those are attitude, norms, and self-efficacy. These three concepts are important to keep in mind when creating your message design. When you are trying to convince people with mental health issues to change a certain behavior you have to know the right steps in how to persuade them. First is attitude, this is the assumption that attitudes guide people's behavior. This is also incorporated in behavioral theory by peoples' behavior towards a certain question.
For example, in the interviews, one of the questions
asked: 'what good or positive things come to mind when you think about caring for an animal?'. In most responses people would say things like having something there for you all the time, they bring you happiness, having something to love, etc. You can see that peoples' attitude toward caring for an animal is positive, so it could lead to those people potentially caring for an animal since they have a positive attitude toward this action. Next is norms, which is the perception that those in your social network support the behavior.
This correlates with the question from the interviews “What individuals or groups of people do you think would not be supportive of you caring for an animal”, in most cases people would say their parents right now since they know they are busy and can't handle caring for an animal right now, or they would say no one because everyone they know would be supportive, or in some cases, people would even say their roommates. You can see that this is a norm because all of the people they said that wouldn't support them are important factors in their social networks.
Therefore, they wouldn't participate in this promotion if they didn't have the support of their social network. Lastly, is self-efficacy, one's perception that she or he can perform the behavior under a variety of challenging circumstances. During the interviews, this area was pretty broad in being that most people said that you had to be responsible to be able to care for an animal and majority also didn't think you should care for more than one animal at a time.
So, that being said if
you have any sort of challenging lifestyle then you shouldn't care for an animal. Based on the findings from the interview the best approach to the behavioral theory would have to be incorporating the attitude and the norm beliefs when creating a message design. That is because they are reliable sources that a majority of people can clearly relate to. In conclusion, the message will be: More students’ suffer from depression today than they ever have in the past.
In Fact, according to the American college health association, national college health assessment II between 9.5% and 31.3% of college students suffer from depression. These students need a way of promoting better mental health or they will in most cases end up with a more severe mental illness, or end their lives by suicide. 86% of them will even end up dropping out of college without finishing their degrees as stated in a journal by Michael T. Hartley.
This can all be prevented if more people that suffer from this mental illness cared for an animal and were able to provide it the dedication and basic necessities that it needs. Because who doesn't want a companion who will love them unconditionally? As long as you have a basic support system, a decent amount of space for the animal, and enough free time, you can easily care for an animal. In return, you won't only obtain a better mental health but so many more mental and physical benefits from it as well.
References
- Adams, A. C., Sharkin, B. S., & Bottinelli, J. J. (2017).
- The Role of Pets in the Lives of College Students: Implications for College Counselors. Journal of
College Student Psychotherapy, 31(4), 306-324. doi:10.1080/87568225.2017.1299601 Schramm, E., Hediger, K., & Lang, U. E. (2015).
