Douglas Evans

Doug Evans is a Professor of Prevention and Community Health, and of Global Health, and Director of the Public Health Communication and Marketing Program.

Dr. Evans has published widely on the effectiveness of social marketing and behavior change interventions in various subject areas and global settings. His current research focuses on the use of branding strategies in public health and the development and evaluation of new health technologies including mobile health. In 2008, he published the volume, Public Health Branding, and is currently finishing a second book, Global Social Marketing Research, both from Oxford University Press. Dr. Evans is currently a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Service's National Advisory Committee on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Healthy People 2020). He is also an expert panel member for the health marketing and health communication review of the Guide to Community Preventive Services. Dr. Evans consults on numerous global health programs, including branding of condom use and condom social marketing programs in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe and former Soviet states in collaboration with USAID and World Bank funded programs. He is currently consulting with USAID on evaluation of mobile health programs in Russia. Dr. Evans currently is Principal Investigator (PI) of a grant from the Department of Defense to evaluate the text4baby mobile health intervention for Military Health Service (MHS) populations. The text4baby program uses an evidence-based protocol of text messages to promote healthy pre-natal neonatal parenting behaviors and is targeted to the needs of low-income women with limited access to health information. He also has funding from the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) to evaluate text4baby in the predominantly Spanish-speaking immigrant population of Fairfax County, Virginia in collaboration with Fairfax Department of Health. He is also PI of a 5-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate an innovative repeat teen pregnancy prevention demonstration project, currently being implemented in the District of Columbia. The project uses video-training and social media in a strengths-based intervention that targets Parent-Child Connectedness (PCC) to improve life skills. Dr. Evans is also an investigator in the Center of Excellence in Health Disparities Research, funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He is an investigator on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded study entitled "Testing Message Frames About the Preventive Services Task Force." Finally, he is the PI of a National Institute on Drug Abuse funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant entitled "Behavioral Brand Builder," which is developing a prototype online health branding education tool for health and health care professionals.

EXPERTISE:

• Behavioral Health
• Community Health
• Evaluation Research
• Health Communication
• Health Information Technology
• Nutrition
• Prevention
• Program Evaluation
• Risk Assessment, Management and Communication
• Social Marketing
• Underserved Populations

*EDUCATION: *

Ph.D., Cognitive Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1991.

M.A., Cognitive Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1988.

B.A., Psychology/Philosophy, Reed College, Portland, OR, 1984.

TEACHING:

PubH 6503: Introduction to Public Health Communication and Marketing, Department of Prevention and Community Health

PubH 6572: Marketing Research for Public Health

PubH 6099: Public Health Branding Theory and Practice

INSTITUTES AND CENTERS:

Prevention Research Center

RESEARCH:

W. Douglas Evans is Professor of Prevention and Community Health, and of Global Health, and Director of the Public Health Communication and Marketing Program in the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University (GWU). Dr. Evans' research interests include prevention intervention research and evaluating behavior change and public education intervention programs using communication and marketing strategies. He has worked extensively on public health subject areas of tobacco and cancer control; nutrition, physical activity, and obesity; diabetes; asthma; HIV/STDs; and reproductive health. He currently focuses on the use of digital media to deliver and evaluate health communication and marketing interventions. Dr. Evans is serving a 4-year appointment (2007-11) as a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Service's National Advisory Committee on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Healthy People 2020). He is an expert panel member for the health marketing and health communication review of the Guide to Community Preventive Services, the Office on National Drug Control Policy anti-drug campaign, and the 2010 Bureau of the Census Integrated Communication Program (ICP) media campaign. He is PI on several ongoing research studies, including the text4baby mobile health intervention to encourage low-income mothers to obtain recommended pre-natal care, the 5-4-3-2-1 Go! childhood obesity prevention program in Chicago, and online randomized controlled trial of the Parents Speak Up National Campaign to encourage parent-child communication about sex.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Impact of Repeated Exposure to Media Messages Encouraging Parent-Child Communication: Longitudinal Change in the Parent Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC).
• Blitstein, J.L., Evans, W.D., Davis, K.C., Kamyab, K. (In Press). ?Impact of Repeated Exposure to Media Messages Encouraging Parent-Child Communication: Longitudinal Change in the Parent Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC).? American Journal of Health Promotion.
• Effects of the Above the Influence Brand on Adolescent Drug Use Prevention Beliefs.
• Evans, W.D., Holtz, K., Snider, J. (In press). ?Effects of the Above the Influence Brand on Adolescent Drug Use Prevention Beliefs.? Journal of Health Communication.
• Pilot evaluation of the text4baby mobile health program.
• Evans, W.D., Wallace, J, Snider, J. (In press). ?Pilot evaluation of the text4baby mobile health program.? BMC Public Health
• Food access, availability, and shopping behavior among low-income urban residents.
• Blitstein, J., Snider, J., Evans, W.D. (2012). ?Food access, availability, and shopping behavior among low-income urban residents.? Public Health Nutrition,doi:10.1017/S1368980012000523.
• Efficacy of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Campaign Messages: Results from an Online Evaluation of the Florida Winds of Change Campaign.
• Evans, W.D., Falconer, M.K., Khan, M., Ferris, C. (2012). ?Efficacy of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Campaign Messages: Results from an Online Evaluation of the Florida Winds of Change Campaign.? Journal of Health Communication, doi: 10.1080/10810730.2011.626502.
• Preliminary evidence for school-based physical activity policy needs in Washington, DC.
• Goodman, E., Evans, W.D., DiPietro, L., Miller, W. (2012). ?Preliminary evidence for school-based physical activity policy needs in Washington, DC.?Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 9(1):124-128.
• Effects of Media Messages on Parent-Child Sexual Communication.
• Evans, W.D., Davis, K.C., Ashley, O.S., Snider, J. (2012). ?Effects of Media Messages on Parent-Child Sexual Communication.? Journal of Health Communication, doi:10.1080/10810730.2011.635772.
• Effectiveness of a National Media Campaign to Promote Parent-Child Communication About Sex.
• Davis, K.C., Evans, W.D., Kamyab, K. (2012). ?Effectiveness of a National Media Campaign to Promote Parent-Child Communication About Sex.? Health Education and Behavior, doi: 10.1177/1090198112440009.
• Mobile health evaluation methods: Opportunities, Challenges and the text4babyCase Study.
• Evans, W.D., Abroms, L.C., Poropatich R., Nielsen, P., Wallace, J. (2012). ?Mobile health evaluation methods: Opportunities, Challenges and the text4babyCase Study.? Journal of Health Communication, 17:sup1, 22-29.
• Outcomes of the 5-4-3-2-1 Go! Childhood Obesity Community Trial.
• Evans, W.D., Christoffel, K.K., Necheles, J., Becker, A.B., Snider, J. (2011). ?Outcomes of the 5-4-3-2-1 Go! Childhood Obesity Community Trial.? American Journal of Health Behavior, 35(2):189-198
• Mediators of Parent-Child Communication About Sexual Activity
• Evans, W.D., Blitstein, J., Davis, K.C., Ulasevich, A. (2011). ?Mediators of Parent-Child Communication About Sexual Activity.? American Journal of Health Behavior, 35(4):428-437.
• Evaluation of Sexual Communication Messages
• Evans, W.D., Davis, K.C., Umanzor, C., Patel, K., Khan, M. (2011). ?Evaluation of Sexual Communication Messages.? BMC Reproductive Health,8:15 doi:10.1186/1742-4755-8-15.
• Brand Equity and Willingness to Pay for Condoms in Zimbabwe.
• Evans, W.D., Taruberekera, N., Longfield, K., Snider, J. (2011). ?Brand Equity and Willingness to Pay for Condoms in Zimbabwe.? BMC Reproductive Health,8:29 doi:10.1186/1742-4755-8-29.
• Effects of Media Campaign Messages Targeting Parents on Adolescent Sexual Beliefs: A Randomized Controlled Trial with a National Sample.
• Palen, L.A., Ashley, O.S., Gard, J.C., Kan, M.L., Davis, K.C., Evans, W.D. (2011). ?Effects of Media Campaign Messages Targeting Parents on Adolescent Sexual Beliefs: A Randomized Controlled Trial with a National Sample.? Family and Community Health, 35(2):189-98.
• Early Results: Text4baby Program Reaches the Intended Audience.
• Jordan, E.T., Ray, E.M., Johnson, P., Evans. W.D. (2011). ?Early Results: Text4baby Program Reaches the Intended Audience.? Nursing for Women's Health, 15(3):206-212.
• Social Marketing as a Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategy
• Evans, W.D., Necheles, J., Becker, A.B., Christoffel, K.K., Snider, J. (2010). ?Social Marketing as a Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategy.? Obesity,18(S1):S23-S26.
• Impact of a parent-child sexual communication campaign: results from a controlled efficacy trial of parents.
• Davis, K.C., Blitstein, J., Evans, W.D., Kamyab, K. (2010). ?Impact of a parent-child sexual communication campaign: results from a controlled efficacy trial of parents.? BMC Reproductive Health, 7:17 doi:10.1186/1742?4755-7?17.
• Efficacy of Abstinence Promotion Media Messages: Findings from an Online Randomized Trial.
• Evans, W.D., Davis, K.C., Silber Ashley, O., Blitstein, J., Koo, H., Zhang, Y. (2009). ?Efficacy of Abstinence Promotion Media Messages: Findings from an Online Randomized Trial.? Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(4):409-417