First Project Proposal

The purpose of our project is to alert women of the dangerous side effects of takingbirth control (blood clots and related issues such as stroke and heart attack). Although there are possible dangerous side effects listed on the packages, mostwomen do not pay attention and therefore do not know they could be at risk. Eventhough there are few, if any, ways to test if someone is more at risk than anotherfor these adverse outcomes, we want girls to know the factors that put them athigher risk than others (smoking, other health conditions). Our group wants to tryand create something that will grab their attention and make them pay attention,hopefully pushing them to see their doctors more often and create a dialogue abouttheir risks.

We intend to build a website that is based on a Public Service Announcement with arecognizable logo and/or slogan that we create in order to help spread theawareness. The PSA will air on local television during the most popular shows thatcollege-aged girls watch. At the end of the PSA we will provide a URL for ourwebsite where they can go for more information. Also we will create flyers to poston the back of bathroom stalls in ladies’ restrooms, and possibly brochures to putin Redfern. If time permits we would like to make refrigerator magnets or someother free giveaway to distribute on campus as well.

First, we will need to know what women do and do not know about the dangerous sideeffects (for this we will develop a survey). We will also need to know what theywould like to know or see that is sometimes hidden in the small print on thepackages. We will need to create a logo and/or slogan that is catchy and thatpeople will remember and recognize when they see it. Then we will put all of ourresearch into a website in order to raise awareness, highlighting specific tidbitsof information for the PSA and print media.

Our deliverables will be the website, the PSA, flyers and brochures, and possiblythe magnets. Our goal is to make the website very visual, but we will also need toinclude some detailed text in order to further alert women of the dangers.

The end result will be that more and more women will increasingly become aware ofthe dangerous side effects associated with taking birth control. We also intend forwomen to be able to recognize warning signs of problems and help themselves preventthese problems by going to see their doctor when things do not seem right. We wantto “scare” them enough into wanting to take better care of themselves and talk totheir healthcare professionals more than they already do; however we want to empowerthem with the knowledge that they can reduce their risks by leading healthy lives.