Take a prediabetest: A prediabetes awareness and detection campaign

Abstract

‘Take A Prediabetest’ was launched as the first local online campaign aimed at raising awareness for prediabetes and advocating for prediabetes screenings among young adults aged 20 to 39. The campaign was conceptualised and executed by four final-year undergraduate students from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. Despite the Singapore government’s efforts to tackle diabetes, a prominent health threat in Singapore, current diabetes programmes face difficulty in eliciting pro-health behaviours due to varying reasons such as campaign fatigue and low feelings of susceptibility. Prediabetes was found to be a possible way to reinvigorate interest in the diabetes conversation for its reversible nature and relevance to a younger audience. However, a general lack of awareness for prediabetes means that the condition tends to go undetected until its progression to diabetes. Guided by the Protection Motivation Theory, the campaign’s key message of using prediabetes screenings to arm individuals with the confidence to prevent diabetes was communicated to audiences in the Punggol region, and cemented through the provision of 150 free Fasting Blood Glucose tests at two neighbourhood clinics during the campaign. A post-campaign evaluation revealed significant improvements in knowledge, self-efficacy, response efficacy and actual behaviour among audiences exposed to the campaign, providing validation for the campaign’s direction for future diabetes prevention efforts.