Application of the Conceptual Framework of Social Marketing in Health Behaviors: A Review of this Approach in Iran

The social marketing approach is a common strategy in global health adopted to ensure the enhancement of knowledge and attitude in the audience to change behaviors in an attempt to maintain individual and social health. With this background in mind, the current study aimed to review the conduct studies using social marketing theory in the field of health in Iran.

In this review study, the related and appropriate article in Persian and English were retrieved from databases of Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Google Scholar, Magiran and SID using such keywords as education, health education, social marketing theory, health, health behavior, and behavior change within 2011-2019. Out of 412 retrieved articles, 39 studies were excluded yielding 17 final articles.

The retrieved articles had been conducted based on semi-experimental, case-control, cross-sectional, and qualitative designs. Moreover, they had included different target groups, such as drivers, students, pregnant women, and middle-aged people. As evidenced by the obtained results, in all articles, social marketing theory exerted a positive effect on the alteration and prediction of behavior.

Health enhancement interventions based on social marketing were shown to have apositive impact on the factors under the study. In addition, qualitative studies have been able to identify the needs and motivations of the audience in the adaptation of target behavior. Therefore, the social marketing framework can take priority in designing behavior change interventions in the healthcare field due to its customer-centricity.