Integration of social marketing and system dynamics modeling to address health disparities: an academic-community partnership case study

Purpose The purpose of this innovative case study research was to integrate community-based social marketing and system dynamics modeling to address colorectal cancer screening disparities. The resulting framework, Community-Based Prevention Marketing (CBPM) for Systems Change, was designed to build academic-community partners’ social marketing and systems thinking capacities, for designing, implementing and evaluating multilevel prevention strategies. Design/methodology/approach This case study used a CBPM framework, integrating participatory system dynamics modeling to design, implement and evaluate a multilevel intervention. Implementation of group modeling techniques during the workshops with a cancer community coalition guided development of causal loop diagrams, leverage points identification and intervention scenarios to enhance colorectal cancer screening rates in a specific US community. Refinement of qualitative and quantitative models emerged and were refined through integration of community wisdom, secondary data and rich discussions when applying systems thinking visualization tools. Findings The participatory system dynamics modeling process was valued by the partners. However, there was a mismatch between the community partners’ expectations for quick results and the longer timelines suggested by the simulation modeling. The difference between what the partners hoped to achieve and what the simulations revealed led them to question the utility of the simulation modeling. As a result, they decided to continue developing and implementing the social marketing strategy without further using the simulation tools. Anticipation of such an outcome should be incorporated when designing systems thinking approaches with community organizations. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first social marketing application integrating participatory system dynamics simulation modeling and community-based social marketing. Findings suggest that the two orientations, a marketing orientation and systems thinking orientation can inform shared decision-making. Yet, more real-world applications are needed to facilitate shared learning among social marketing researchers, practitioners and clients.