O-52 Evaluation of the Stop, Take a Deep Breath, and Relax (STAR) violence prevention media campaign in Grenada, West Indies

Methods: Intercept surveys were conducted with adults in Grenada before and after a two-month media campaign encouraging people to Stop, Take a Deep Breath, and Relax (STAR) to prevent violence. Participants were asked about their media use and awareness of violence prevention advertisements, and post-campaign were also asked about exposure to the STAR campaign videos and song. Participants were asked additional questions about violence in Grenada.

Results: In total, 313 adults completed the pre-campaign survey and 286 completed the post-campaign survey. Most (74.7%) reported at least some exposure to radio or television, or social media. Social media use was higher for participants ages 18-44, and those >55 reported greater use of radio and television. Pre-campaign, 24.3% of participants reported exposure to an advertisement about ending violence, and post-campaign 37.4% did. There was considerably greater awareness of the campaign song (54.1%) compared to videos (27.6%), but recall and a clear understanding of the song’s message was low. Most participants recognized violence in Grenada as “a very big problem” and recommended wider-reaching, social media-focused campaigns and community outreach for future interventions.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that short media campaigns can reach Grenadian adults, though songs may have a greater reach than videos. There is a need for clearer, more widespread media campaigns and other interventions to address a recognized need for violence prevention efforts in Grenada.