Public relations students enter Bateman Competition

Fort Worth, TX

5/7/2007

A case study for a public relations class at TCU will end up meaning more than just a letter grade. For five students and one professor it will be about putting into action a vision of making life easier for family caregivers in Fort Worth.

Amiso George, associate professor and faculty advisor for TCU's team, along with Carolyn Bobo, APR, adjunct faculty at the Schieffer School and professional advisor for the team; senior Lydia Akinde, junior Kiersten Booren, junior Michelle Fabrega, junior Ashley Pierret, and senior Alana Villegas, first began working on the case study for the 2006-2007 Bateman Case Study Competition, at the start of the school year in September. The five students were chosen by George.

All the students had to be advertising and public relations majors, and also members of the Public Relations Student Society of America. They chose the team name “Cowtown Communications” in honor of the city of Fort Worth. The case study for the competition this year is Family Caregiving 101.

In October of 2004, the National Family Caregivers Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving, began a campaign called, “Family Caregiving, it's not all up to you,” which can be found at the PRSSA Web site (www.prssa.org).

The program was launched in an effort to create awareness of the hard work and dedication it takes to be a caregiver. In most cases, caregivers feel isolated and experience stress from the burden of care giving itself, along with balancing work and other family responsibilities, according to the PRSSA Web site.

Students use the four principles of public relations: research, planning, implementation, and evaluation in the Bateman case study competition. The Bateman was established in honor of J. Carroll Bateman, who in 1967 was the president of the PRSA and the president of the International Public Relations Associations in 1980. He was also instrumental in establishing and promoting PRSSA. The Bateman has since become has become the most prestigious and challenging competition for public relations students nationwide, according to the PRSSA Web site.

The students began conducting research on their case study last fall, as Akinde, the team's research coordinator explained.

"We first had to learn the history of family caregiving," Akinde said. "Once we learned about family caregiving, we then had to take that research, develop our own research, and use as resource to help our case study."

In addition to a focus group conducted on campus, the students also included in their research the testimony of an actual caregiver, Kathy Smith*, 77, whose 78- year old husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2000. Smith and her husband had to move into a retirement home shortly after the diagnoses because she could not give her husband the constant care.

"It was 24/7," she said. "I needed help because he could not be left alone. I had to take him everywhere."

Smith lives in a retirement home that has family caregiving facilities, but also said that there were not that many other places where she could get help.

The students also had to plan and implement a variety of events where they could communicate their message both professionally and effectively to their target audience.

"We first planned out a survey to help us find out who the caregivers in Fort Worth," said Akinde, the special events coordinator. "We passed out our surveys at Albertson’s, Walgreen’s, and other pharmacies so that we could find exactly who the caregivers in Fort Worth are," Booren said.

The surveys that were coordinated by Lydia Akinde, gave the team what it was looking for.

"Our surveys revealed to us that the majority of caregivers in Fort Worth are Hispanic females," said Akinde, the research coordinator.

The team decided that it would attend a soccer game on February 23 at the Darena Sports Arena, Arlington, home to the Darena Allstars.

"We called the event, ‘Kicks for Kare’,” Booren said. “We chose a soccer game because we had research that told us Hispanics attend soccer sports events, instead of the popular American sports events."

"We put up our booths and stayed for three games," Booren said. "We did a great job of reaching the right people."

Also at the event, the team gave attendees information of current resources available for family caregivers in the Fort Worth area. The information came from national and local caregiving organizations.

The team has gone beyond merely informing caregivers. Members felt so strongly about the responses from caregivers about the need for access to resources that they are taking the case to city hall.

The five students presented their petition before members of the Fort Worth City Council in April.

"It was entirely up to the girls to create a petition and go before the Fort Worth City Council," George said. "They put in such hard work and dedication and found that the caregivers in Fort Worth need help."

"They have really impressed me with their skills and their understanding of public relations," Bobo said. "They put together a great case study based on the four principles of public relations. I hope that the judges vote them the winner in on April 15."

The Bateman team consists of five core members and students enrolled in the Public Relations Campaign class.

The students presented their campaign to the Greater Fort Worth chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) at the annual ProAm Day on April 11.

* - Names were changed to conceal identities.