Public Health: An individual’s or the government’s responsibility?

© Ipsos MORI / King’s College London

Public Health: An individual’s or the government’s responsibility?

Louise Park

Head of Public Health at Ipsos MORI

#KingsIpsosMORI


We are split on government involvement

39% 32%

Which comes closest to your own opinion…

Source: Ipsos MORI Base: 1,004 GB adults 16-75 2014

It is the government's responsibility to influence people's behaviour to encourage healthy lifestyles

The government should not get involved with interfering

in people's lifestyles

GB


… but face less of a challenge than elsewhere

52%

48%

47%

46%

45%

41%

40%

39%

39%

36%

34%

32%

30%

29%

27%

26%

24%

12%

20%

14%

29%

31%

28%

32%

28%

27%

32%

30%

36%

36%

36%

35%

37%

39%

40%

63%

Which comes closest to your own opinion…

Source: Ipsos MORI/ Global Trends Survey Base: c.500 - 1,000 adults 15+ in each country (1,004 aged 16-75 in GB), 2013/14

It is the government's responsibility to influence people's behaviour to encourage healthy lifestyles

The government should not get involved with interfering

in people's lifestyles

South Korea

Argentina

India

Spain

Italy

Brazil

Germany

Poland

South Africa

Sweden

Belgium

Japan

Australia

France

Canada

Russia

The USA

GB


What about local council intervention?

Source: Ipsos MORI Base: government 1,004, council 1,006, GB adults 16-75, 2014

It is the responsibility of … to influence people's behaviour to encourage healthy lifestyles

Government

39% Local councils

36%

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=5IWSVEwRgMK7AM&tbnid=li0pCcfH6NKRMM:&ved=0CAgQjRw&url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Downing_Street&ei=kUY4U5KuG6Wo0AXunoGYDQ&psig=AFQjCNHjXJcC6TdDOubba4a9Cxh--mt-2g&ust=1396283409586572


How can we get the public to own public health?


19%

8%

22%

12%

38%

17%

16%

1%

36%

10%

Which of the following, if any, are the 3-4 biggest threats to the <health of the British population/

your health>? (Prompted) Top 10 mention shown

54%

43%

41%

38%

37%

35%

29%

20%

18%

18%

Threats to health ofBritish population

Threats to your health

We see threats to our health differently…

Base: 2,010 GB adults 16-75, 2014 Source: Ipsos MORI

Obesity/ overeating

Alcohol

Poor diet

Smoking

Lack of exercise

Cancer

Heart disease

Drugs abuse

Stress

Diabetes


Misperceptions need to be challenged

Are classified as overweight

(BMI of 25+)

Think they are overweight

Think they are unhealthy

59%

40%

22%

Base: 2,001 UK adults 16+, 2011. Source: Ipsos MORI/BUPA


To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement…?

Some claimed desire for improved lifestyles

Source: Ipsos MORI Base: 1,002 I need, 1,008 people in Britain need, GB adults 16-75, 2014

% agree ‘I need

to live a healthier

lifestyle’

% agree ‘People

in Britain need to

live a healthier

lifestyle’


49%

37%

21%

21%

20%

13%

9%

5%

5%

Impact of my health on my family

Concern about not living as long as possible

Doctor’s advice

A health scare

Seeing family members suffer from a disease

Pressure from family/friends

Something in the media

So what drivers of change can be leveraged?

Which, if any, of the following were the main reasons for making a long term change to your

health? Top 9 mentions

Quality of life

To look better

Base: 1,549 UK adults aged 18+ who made a long-term change to their health


...would you tell me if you generally trust them to tell the truth, or not?

And who is the most trusted messenger?

Base: c.1,000-2,000 Source: Ipsos MORI

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1983 1993 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011

Doctors

Teachers

Civil servants

Politicians

Journalists

Ordinary man/woman in the street


How can we increase public acceptance of government intervention?


Softer interventions are more acceptable

Base: 1,014 GB adults 16-64, 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI Global @dvisor

92

73

74

45

78

% strongly support/ tend to support

Provide information

Incentives (eg. financial incentive schemes to stop

smoking)

Disincentives (eg. ban smoking in public places)

Establish bans (eg. complete smoking ban)

Companies/organisations (eg. make tobacco

companies invest against smoking)

Now thinking about smoking: What, if anything, do you think government should do?


Though acceptance depends on the behaviour

Base: 1,014 GB adults 16-64, 2010 (smoking), 1,763 UK adults 16-64 2014 (vaccinations) Source: Ipsos MORI

92

73

74

45

78

Smoking Vaccination

Provide information

Incentives (eg. vaccine free to all)

Disincentives (eg. people should pay for treatment

if they become ill and did not get the vaccine)

Establish bans (eg. laws to make vaccine obligatory)

Companies/organisations (eg. employers and

schools should promote the vaccine)

95

89

34

41

81

Imagine a new type of dangerous flu appears and a vaccine is developed to protect people from getting ill. What, if anything, do you think government should do?

% strongly support/ tend to support


45% agree “government should ban

smoking altogether”

Remember, the public hold inconsistent views!

12%

41% agree

“government

should not get

involved in how

people make

decisions about

smoking”

Base: 1,014 GB adults 16-64, 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI Global @dvisor


And remember acceptability shifts

TIME

PU

BL

IC S

UP

PO

RT

Goodwin P. (2006) Cycle of Public Acceptability

Build-up of support

as benefits appear

Fall-off as detail

emerges

Sufficient support to go

ahead

Increasing support

for general idea

New idea, no

justification Panic just before

implementation


76

73

71

70

49

49

83

% Strongly/somewhat support

Nudges are acceptable as long as they don’t cost the

public

Thinking about influencing people to eat more healthily, what, if anything, do you think

government should do?

Source: Ipsos MORI Base: 2,010 GB adults 16-75, 2014

Food producers should reduce the amount of salt/sugar put in food

Supermarkets should remove sweets/chocolate from their check-outs

Cafes/restaurants should print info on calories on their menu

Public money from taxes should be used to provide free fruit in schools

TV ads for junk food should not be shown before 9pm

Cafes/restaurants should add salad/ veg as a standard side dish,

though this may increase costs

Supermarkets should not offer deals on sweets and chocolate


What is the effect of message framing?

Base: government norm 502, protection of children 502, protection from industry 505, obesity facts 501, GB adults 16-75, 2014 Source: Ipsos MORI

% strongly support/ tend to support ‘the government should not get involved in what people

choose to eat’

Obesity facts

Around 25% of the British population is obese. Treating obesity… costs the NHS £5

billion/ year. Levels of obesity in Britain will rise to 50% by 2050.

Government norm

Governments around the world… are using a range of approaches

to encourage people to eat more healthily/ reduce obesity levels.

Protection of children

1 in 3 children 10-11 is overweight/ obese... children from poorer households more

likely to be overweight/ obese. Some say government should help families/ children.

<Intro text> Thinking about what people choose to eat, what, if anything, do you think government should do?

Protection from industry

Junk food manufacturers use advanced advertising and marketing tools…

Some say government should help the public eat more healthily.

47%

51%

49%

47%


Factual communications receive less support

% strongly support/ tend to support ‘the government should provide incentives such as money off vouchers

for healthy foods’

<Intro text> Thinking about what people choose to eat, what, if anything, do you think government should do?

Base: government norm 502, protection of children 502, protection from industry 505, obesity facts 501, GB adults 16-75, 2014 Source: Ipsos MORI

80%

75%

76%

70%

Obesity facts

Around 25% of the British population is obese. Treating obesity… costs the NHS £5

billion/ year. Levels of obesity in Britain will rise to 50% by 2050.

Government norm

Governments around the world… are using a range of approaches

to encourage people to eat more healthily/ reduce obesity levels.

Protection of children

1 in 3 children 10-11 is overweight/ obese... children from poorer households more

likely to be overweight/ obese. Some say government should help families/ children.

Protection from industry

Junk food manufacturers use advanced advertising and marketing tools…

Some say government should help the public eat more healthily.


Some final thoughts

• Evenly split on government intervention – are the public aware of councils’ public

health responsibilities?

• Misperceptions need challenging – but we should recognise the limitations of facts

alone

• Should we be talking about stress not obesity?

• Public acceptability falls as more freedoms are lost

• Acceptability just one factor – do the public recognise the scale of the problem?

Do they believe in the effectiveness of the intervention?

• Nudge interventions are fairly welcome (if they don’t hit our purses)

• Do we need more emotive messaging?


Thank you [email protected] | 020 7347 3315

© Ipsos MORI This work was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the international quality standard for market research, ISO 20252:2006 and with the Ipsos MORI Terms and Conditions which can be found here

#KingsIpsosMORI

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/terms

Date post:	22-Aug-2014
Category:	Healthcare
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Public Health: An individual’s or the government’s responsibility?

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