DESIGNING AND CRITICALLY EVALUATING
A DISSEMINATION STRATEGY FOR RESEARCH
ABSTRACT
A study published in 2015 revealed patterns of text messaging that youth in distress were using to communicate with a helpline. This essay begins by considering what aspects of this research are relevant to specific parties who might benefit from them. It will then discuss a strategy for the dissemination of this research to said concerned parties.
INTRODUCTION: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH STUDY
Youthline New Zealand is a 24-hour crisis helpline for youth in distress. Ailsa J. Haxell conducted a study on an interesting pattern that had emerged among those who were choosing to contact Youthline NZ.(Haxell 2015) She found that, increasingly, young people were starting to reach out to Youthline NZ through text messages rather than telephone calls. Strikingly, the results of the study showed that those who texted were not the same as those who called. In fact, they often rejected the offer to communicate and interact over phone calls for a variety of reasons. Some were hard of hearing or simply did not feel comfortable talking about a distressing subject. Others noted that making calls tended to attract unwanted attention and even abuse in some cases. Some stated that the act of messaging put them in control of when and what they said and how much. In fact, one respondent felt that typing up messages allowed her to reflect on her feelings and come to terms with them to a certain extent.
Hence, there were several advantages to using text messaging as a medium of communication. However, for the counsellors at the other end of the interaction, the restrictions imposed by text messaging made it difficult for them to truly gauge the nature of the situation and the mood of the other person. Counsellors felt challenged by the inability to obtain crucial pieces of information that were necessary for them to know how best to offer support.
One of the challenges encountered in this study was the difficulty of making contact with those who had approached Youthline NZ for help via SMS. There were also some ethical hurdles in accessing and using the information relating to these communications.
The aim of this essay is to devise a strategy for the dissemination of the findings of this piece of research. It will begin first by considering what kinds of individuals or groups would benefit from receiving this information and then use this as the foundation for considering how best to communicate it to them. Finally, I shall consider the pros and cons of my proposed strategy. I shall consider its strengths as well as its limitations.
WHO SHOULD LEARN OF THIS RESEARCH AND WHY?
There is often a gap that prevents research from directly influencing policy decisions and impactful action. (Ruxton 2014) This is accounted for by the lack of adequate mechanisms that can convey research findings to those who should be aware of them. There are a number of individuals, groups, communities, and corporations who would benefit from learning the results of this study in particular and others like it. In each case, their interests in this material may vary.
In the list below, I shall consider a variety of parties who may benefit from the findings of Haxell’s study and also include what I think their interest in it might be:
• Individuals in distress may discover the benefits or potential pitfalls of using texting to reach out for help.
• Counsellors and helplines can learn of new ways to engage with youth in distress and to make them feel comfortable. In particular, the findings of this research can highlight some useful strategies to maximise the efficacy of texting as a medium of communication in such situations. For instance, the deliberate use of SMS-speak in order to make the young person feel comfortable and understood.
• Mobile service providers may use this information as a selling point to promote their products and packages.
• Researchers, particularly those interested in communication and issues related to youth, may find such localised and small-scale studies useful for understanding broader issues.
• Policymakers rely on such research in order to define policies. Such small-scale and localised studies recounting specific individual experiences are particularly valuable. (pg. 263)
• Law enforcement agencies and officials, too, would benefit as the existence of such avenues for offering help to distressed individuals would ease their burden.
PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR DISSEMINATION
Ideally, the mode or modes adopted for the dissemination of such research should be tailored to the specific community or individuals in question. For instance, publishing the results of this research in reputed peer-reviewed journals or sharing them through scholarly conferences and seminars would be a good way to bring them to the attention of the research community. However, this would not be ideal for, say, a teenager in distress in rural Africa. Nor would it show up on the radar of non-governmental organisations manned by volunteers and working with distressed youth on the ground. However, it is certainly possible to initiate a chain reaction that allows the information to trickle from one group to another. Here, I shall propose a strategy that aims to do just that.
Before this can be done, it might be more meaningful if more such studies are conducted and in a range of locations; rural, urban and semi-urban. It would be inaccurate to draw conclusions based on the results of a single, isolated and limited study. Similar studies have been conducted in relatable settings such as mental health and sexual health. (Furber et al 2011; Lim et al 2008) SMS is also increasingly being used in health monitoring (Fynn et al 2006) and in aiding the implementation of cognitive behavioural therapy. (Aguilera et al 2011)
When a wider range of studies have been taken into account and their results compared and consolidated, it will help to identify broader trends and in more detail.
Coming to the strategy itself, the main idea is to share the findings of this research with the advertising and marketing teams of mobile phone companies and convince them to project the use of text messaging in this manner as one of the selling points of their products. Mobile corporations spend millions of dollars on advertising and are always on the lookout for fresh ideas to promote their offerings. As all large corporations do, mobile service providers also have established corporate social responsibility (CSR) wings who can be convinced to actively promote the use of text messaging for reaching out when in distress.
Sometimes, large corporations attempt to use CSR activities to reposition their brand image and seek social approval to gloss over the negative social and environmental impacts of their main enterprises.(Yoon et al, 2006) An example of this is soft-drink manufacturers who donate drinking water to villages to cover up for the fact that they themselves are responsible for draining groundwater in rural locations. (Hills and Welford 2005)
If mobile phone providers can be interested in adopting the cause of helplines, and using their messaging services to alert users to the existence of these services, this would serve a dual purpose. Just as advertisements and offers are shared through text messages, service providers can work with established NGOs or helplines to promote their work and alert users to the availability of confidential and dependable crisis support. At the same time, the company itself benefits by boosting its image through a social cause. The company can also benefit by ensuring that the helplines use their services for all such purposes. The text messaging helpline service may be offered at a subsidised rate to incentivise its usage. As for individuals in distress and seeking help, the information necessary to get in touch with a counsellor or helpline would be at their fingertips.
As Robb points out, the advantage of dealing with youth is that it is possible to make use of technology more effectively since youth are more likely to be conversant with cellular technologies and text messaging. (Robb 2014) Additionally, since text messaging can even work in areas where cellular networks are patchy; this service can truly spread out across the length and breadth of the country using the extensive and established infrastructure of mobile service providers.
Advertising through multiple and varied media allows for different levels of engagement. For instance, SMS messages advertising the service may not be able to fully express the advantages of using SMS to seek help. (Obermayer 2004) Such messages are no different from the ones we are used to receiving; ones that advertise a variety of schemes, offers and products. Reaching out in this way is unobtrusive and at the same time ensures that if one were to feel the need to seek help, one would have the necessary details close at hand in the form of these messages. (Haxell 2015)
Television commercials can be used effectively to show how confidentiality and discretion can be maintained at both ends of the interaction. Commercials can also highlight how this technology and service are meaningful to a range of users who are limited by physical handicaps, remote location, age or literacy levels.
CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF PROPOSED STRATEGY
The strategy proposed here is fairly simple in concept but may be challenging to execute, partly on account of its scale and logistics. One of its challenges is also that it will require cooperation and support from a variety of disparate parties whose interests are often at odds with one another. Governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as youth distress helplines may resent the involvement of commercial interests as this might compromise the integrity of their work. On the other hand, the assurance of technical support and enhanced reach offered by such support may serve to convince them to join hands with service providers.
One of the benefits of this strategy is that it uses mass media. Advertisement through television, radio and even print media ensures greater reach and visibility. It can bring about social awareness of the issue on a large scale and encourage more people to reach out through SMS. Where non-literate viewers are concerned, audio-visual advertising can overcome the drawbacks of purely text-based communication in print media. The availability of speech-to-text conversion on even the most basic of mobile handsets on the market will ensure that the use of this service extends even to those who are incapable of texting, for whatever reason. There have even been some interesting studies done on how illiterate and semi-literate users make use of text messaging. (Knoche et al 2012)
Additionally, messages sent out by the service provider are private and meant to be viewed by the owner of the phone. This will reaffirm the benefits of using texting as a confidential means of communicating with a helpline when in distress. Another advantage of such a system is that, as Robb proposes, it can directly involve youth themselves as agents of change. (Robb 2014) Young people can help one another out by sharing the details of such helplines with their friends and peers.
However, the involvement of large corporations certainly raises ethical concerns as to who owns the information being sent over text. If the service provider has access to the content of such text messages and subsequent conversations (if any), they may be able to store it and sell it to interested third parties. (Goldman 2011) Confidentiality may be entirely compromised in such cases. Further, there is the fear of large corporations using their clout to monopolise the use of such helplines. This can seriously limit the availability and reach of such services, particularly in areas where mobile networks provided by the company in question are already weak and patchy.
CONCLUSION
Researchers need to appreciate the importance of sharing their findings with those who would benefit from the information. There are several different avenues for dissemination of research findings and these must take into consideration the requirements and interests of those that they are aimed at. In this case, the proposed strategy involves multiple levels of engagement with a variety of concerned parties. It proposes to create a network linking these otherwise disparate parties by highlighting the mutual benefits. Each party brings a different offering. Some offer the infrastructure and technical support whereas others bring to the table their experience of working with distressed youth on the ground. The third set of participants in this network is the affected youth themselves.
Thus, this strategy does not end merely with disseminating information but by reinforcing and connecting structures that are already in place for achieving a demonstrable impact.
REFERENCE LIST
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Hills, J. and Welford, R., 2005. Coca?Cola and water in India. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 12(3), pp.168-177.
Knoche, H. and Huang, J., 2012, May. Text is not the enemy-How illiterates use their mobile phones. In NUIs for New Worlds: New Interaction Forms and Interfaces for Mobile Applications in Developing Countries-CHI 2012 workshop.
Obermayer, J.L., Riley, W.T., Asif, O. and Jean-Mary, J., 2004. College smoking-cessation using cell phone text messaging. Journal of American College Health, 53(2), pp.71-78.
Robb, Martin, 2014. Disseminating research: shaping the conversation. Understanding Research with Children and Young People. Ed by Alison Clark, Rosie Flewitt and Martin Hammersley. SAGE Publication Ltd., pp. 237–249.
Ruxton, Sandy, 2014. Achieving policy impact: researching children’s issues at EU level. Understanding Research with Children and Young People. Ed by Alison Clark, Rosie Flewitt and Martin Hammersley. SAGE Publication Ltd.
Yoon, Y., Gürhan-Canli, Z. and Schwarz, N., 2006. The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on companies with bad reputations. Journal of consumer psychology, 16(4), pp.377-390.
