Needfinding Interviews

We conducted a survey to learn about our audience.

Survey Letter

Thank you for your interest in my product.

Survey Answers:

9 responses, Summarized

1. What do you know about the avian flu (bird flu)?

• "Nothing much. Maybe just that it has to do with birds. So far it isn't being spread human to human (although that could me changing), so its not pandemic yet although everyone is afraid of it. I don't really know what it is exactly though."
• "It is a virus that originated with birds in eastern asia. It has been spreading. It is believed that it will mutate"
  
• "It is fatal and can be transmitted to human being."
• "It's a potential pandemic. It could devastate the bay area (and the world).
• Those who catch it have a 50% chance of living. The virus lives in the air or on a surface for several days - much worse than the common flu. Your likelihood for catching it now increases if have contact with birds."
• "Not much"
• "Not a whole lot… some people have gotten the disease from birds, chickens, etc. I remember stories of some kid somewhere in Asia I think, playing with a dead bird (??) and getting the disease. I think a brother or sister got it at that time too. I want to say there was another case in Germany, but seems to center in Asia. Mostly rural areas. (I guess the kind of place where there’s not much else to do than to play with dead birds!!) Not sure if there have been any cases in the US yet. It has passed to pigs I think, besides the normal bird-to-bird transmission. The virus is not yet able to trasmit human to human, at least that people can prove yet. It needs to mutate before it becomes a pandemic threat… I think it is quickly fatal – like you notice severe flu-like symptoms, and then you die quickly after that… not that you always die but I think the death rate is high… Not sure what the treatment is like, and how effective it is. I want to say that it is nowhere near 100% but there are drugs available. Probably not enough though, hence the pandemic fear. Oh wait I did hear a bit on NPR about where to store all the bodies etc. – like they have a task force in charge of this, in case of an outbreak. Some woman called in about some flu outbreak in the early 1910’s, where they just stacked bodies outside in the snow, like firewood, she said. <<shudder>>"
• "Avian flu, also known as bird flu, virus targets primarily birds (mostly chickens). Every once in a while, it spreads, mostly in developing countries. However, there is no proof that it affects humans. If the birds are not properly cooked above 100 degrees Celsius, the virus may affect humans too. And it can be fatal. In humans, it can be cured with antibiotics."
• "Not much. I think it is some sort of respiratory disease that is carried by birds, chickens mainly, or at least chickens are the birds that spread it to humans most often because we people are in contact with them more than any other bird (maybe, sounds good). I believe it originated in eastern asia but has spread from there. It is a dangerous and potentially fatal disease. I don't know the mortality rate, but it must be substantial given the fact that I have at least heard a modest amount about it."

2. How did you learn about avian flu? (websites, tv news, blogs, friends, etc)

• "friends chatting, reading online a bit (news cites). Really all I've been doing is studying and so I am really ignorant..."
  
• "TV news, websites, my mom"
  
• "Websites in Chinese"
• "Some websites, but mainly an expert who came and talked to our church group about how to prepare for it - how to construct an emergency kit."
• "Obviously haven't learned much yet, but if I were to, I would probably wikipedia it."
• "Initially? No idea. Just one of those things that creeps up on you. I did read a news article online yesterday morning about the topic… Some concern that a certain case of 8 or so people infected may have been a result of person-to-person transfer. I have an NPR podcast about avian flu downloaded that I haven’t gotten around to listening to yet."
• "I learned about avian flu from newspapers and news Web sites."
• "I feel I probably know what I know from a smattering of references on the news, web (news sites), and from people."
  

3. What more information would you like to know?

• "I'd like to know a lot more info, such as symptoms, how you contract it, lethality, how it is spreading, what the plan is worldwide and/or country by country, etc."
• "I would like to see a special on the discovery channel or PBS, some critical news source where they will give me a critical discussion on the virus."
  
• "how it be transmitted and how to avoid or be immune to it"
• "not much. (although I know I probably should)"
• "Since I haven't tried to learn about it yet, I'm not sure what to expect to learn (for instance from Wikipedia), and so I don't know how useful (or useless) I might find that information."
• "What is it about this particular virus that sparks fear of a pandemic? How did it start? How effective are medical treatments? Is the supreme power guy/gal punishing the world for Americans voting twice for Bush?"
• " I’d like to know how to prevent it from spreading and how to know if one has been infected. And what precautions can we take to avoid this disease."
• "Where it is. How it spreads. Preventative measures. Treatments.
  Mortality rate."
  

4. How would you prepare for a flu pandemic?

• "Well considering I know practically nothing about it nothing right now. If I knew how it was contracted I would probably take preventative action (stop hanging out with birds maybe). Also, if it began affecting my area, I might talk with my doctor about it, identify my local hospital and such."
  
• "Avoid sick people"
• "I don't know. God bless me."
• "Get some masks (I forgot the name but it's nc10 or something like that). not much else you can do, other than be wary of contact with birds and others once they get it."
• "I guess I would ask my physician first to find out whether there are vaccinations available. Otherwise, I'm of that mindset who thinks most of this stuff is media hype and I can't live my life constantly worrying about what's next to catch. So maybe I would in fact belong to a target group you are trying to target!"
• "I have my little emergency kit in my apartment – water, food, radio, etc. I don’t know really how else to prepare. Like, do I just not leave my apartment for weeks and weeks? Is it going to be like the plague? Now that was a fun book."
• "I’d keep medicines at home, avoid consuming potentially infected food, and learn more about the pandemic."
• "I would probably go to the internet, a U.S. government or U.N. site and see what I can learn. I might go to a clinic or hospital to see what I need to do.
  Maybe listen to the news or other people. Basically learn all that I need to. Though my efforts all depend on how serious I perceive the threat to be. And that would depend on the news. In other words. I probably wouldn't try to discover how dangerous a pandemic is, I would wait until I'm told that it is dangerous, then I would act. I never really thought about before, I am relying on someone else to tell me that I am in danger.
  Why not spend some of the energy I would once I know I'm in danger to see if I'm in danger? You have begun to open my eyes with your well though out questions. ... I also think that it is weird that I would go to the internet before going to a doctor once I am aware of the pandemic."
  

Expert Interviews

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Peter Jenkins, Visual Information Specialist CDC



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