Evaluation of Los Angeles County's L.A. Dodgers 2022 Mental Health Campaign

Key Findings

• Twelve percent of adults and 27 percent of youth reported exposure to the campaign, translating to more than 800,000 adults and more than 400,000 youth reached.
• The campaign was effective in targeting Hispanic- or Latino-identifying residents, who made up 71 percent of youth who were campaign-exposed and 58 percent of adults exposed.
• The majority of individuals reached by the campaign said that it made them feel that their mental health was important.
• Los Angeles County residents exposed to the campaign were more likely to be aware of county mental health resources in general and were more likely to be aware of the LACDMH Help Line specifically.
• County youth exposed to the campaign were eight times more likely to have used the Help Line than those who were not exposed to the campaign.
• Those attending Dodger games during Mental Health Month reported that the games made them feel connected to community, and more than one in four attendees showed awareness of the broader WhyWeRise campaign.
• Few of those exposed appear to have experienced shifts in their mental health–related attitudes and beliefs or their own well-being.

WhyWeRise is a social marketing campaign conducted by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) as part of the county's slate of programs targeting prevention and early intervention (PEI) for mental health challenges among county residents. It is intended to promote community engagement with mental health issues along a continuum from self-care to professional treatment services, reduce barriers to care, and increase awareness of how to seek mental health care, including awareness of LACDMH resources. Since 2020, LACDMH has partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers to expand the reach of the campaign to the Dodgers audience and spread the WhyWeRise messages to the Dodgers’ large Hispanic fan base—a key county demographic with attitudes toward mental illness that sometimes differ from those of other ethnic groups.

LACDMH and the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) commissioned the RAND Corporation to conduct an evaluation of the 2022 Dodgers campaign. Our team previously evaluated the 2020 and 2021 Dodgers campaigns, as well as the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 WhyWeRise campaigns.¹ This study builds on that prior work and provides an evaluation of the reach and potential impact of the 2022 Dodgers campaign overall, as well as a focus on the potential impact of attending three Dodger games during Mental Health Month (which is in May) where there was intensive campaign outreach. We conducted an online survey of representative samples of Los Angeles County individuals ages 26 and older (“adults” hereafter) and ages 14 to 25 (“youth” hereafter), as well as a brief online survey of a sample of individuals who attended a Dodger game during Mental Health Month. We are simultaneously evaluating the 2022 WeRise events. These well-being events are another component of WhyWeRise that take place during Mental Health Month. Results for WeRise are presented in a separate study (Collins, Eberhart, Estrada-Darley, and Roth, 2022b).²

Results of our evaluation indicate that the Dodgers campaign reached a substantial percentage of Los Angeles County residents: 12 percent of adults and 27 percent of youth reported exposure to the campaign, translating to more than 800,000 adults and more than 400,000 youth reached. The campaign was effective in targeting Hispanic- or Latino-identifying residents, who made up 71 percent of youth who were campaign-exposed and 58 percent of adults exposed. As in previous years of the campaign (Collins, Eberhart, Roth, and Estrada-Darley, 2022), county residents were exposed to the campaign primarily via social media, radio ads, and ads on the Dodgers website. The majority of individuals reached by the campaign said that it made them feel that their mental health was important. Los Angeles County residents exposed to the campaign were more likely to be aware of county mental health resources in general and were more likely to be aware of the LACDMH Help Line specifically. County youth exposed to the campaign were eight times more likely to have used the Help Line than those who were not exposed to the campaign. Those attending Dodger games during Mental Health Month reported that the games made them feel connected to community, and more than one in four attendees showed awareness of the broader WhyWeRise campaign. Few of those exposed appear to have experienced shifts in their mental health–related attitudes and beliefs or their own well-being.

In summary, there is evidence that the Dodgers campaign successfully reached Los Angeles County residents, particularly Hispanics and young adults, and that those reached were more aware of key county mental health resources.