Mayer is most known for her work as lecturer, consultant, and filmmaker focused on effective communication techniques for social change, both in the US and internationally. She has held a joint appointment at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where she taught classes in global storytelling and media campaign promotion for nonprofits to improve their effectiveness in public health, and similar social change efforts. She has designed educational programs and videos in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific islands, and the Americas on topics of girls' education in Malawi, women's reproductive health in Ghana, cholera prevention in Suriname, and anti-smoking campaigns in China, all with the goal of achieving behavioral change through effective communication strategies.[2]
Mayer has primarily worked in visual media, where she has produced, directed, and provided technical support for productions in the United States as well as in developing countries. She has created campaigns on family planning, basic education, health and nutrition promotion, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental protection, population issues, and women's rights. Her films have been shown at the Chicago Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, the United Nations Decade for Women Festival in Nairobi, Kenya and the New York Film Festival.
Throughout her production career, Mayer has produced and directed films that promote social change. In 1990, she produced Vukani Mukai, Awakening to encourage Zimbabwean women to get training in organizing small-scale income-generating projects.[3]InThe Women Will (Wanawake Watatunza), she documented the journey and impact of the Kenya Rural Area Women's Project in empowering and supporting rural Kenyan women through training, cultural exchanges, community workshops, and the development of grassroots projects.[4]InCompetent Women, Caring Men: Images that Inspire, she explored how mass media can transform traditional gender roles by portraying strong, capable women and nurturing men, and how it can influence societal behavior through entertainment-based education.[5] She created a documentary on women learning to use computers in a tsunami-affected region of the Indian state of Kerala. In Los Angeles, she produced two videos—The Tamale Lesson and It's Time—which promoted Pap tests and the HPV vaccine, exploring the impact of narrative and fact-based approaches in health communication.[6] She produced three short web video profiles as part of the Immigrant Health Initiative at USC, documenting health issues faced by immigrant families. As co-principal investigator for the La Clave project, a communication outreach campaign directed to the Latino community in Los Angeles, she produced La Clave, aiming to help Latino viewers recognize signs of psychosis in family members and get them prompt assistance.[7]
Mayer served as a researcher for Reds and Shampoo. She was producer of the video sequences for the films Coming Home, which explored the impact of the Vietnam War on American society, and The China Syndrome, which explored the consequences of a nuclear power plant accident.[8]
Mayer has conducted research on the challenges associated with teaching film and video production in developing nations.[9] Her book with Jed Dannenbaum (her late husband) and Carroll Hodge, Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out focuses on how students can improve their work, generate a story concept, set up lighting on a set, edit scene, or choose the right music.[10] A study she did with Barbara Pillsbury examined the effectiveness of women's NGOs in addressing sexual and reproductive health problems, the use of media and technology in these efforts, and the importance of collaboration and shared knowledge.[11] She has highlighted the power of culturally specific narrative videos in communicating health programs and beneficial interventions, emphasizing the effectiveness of storytelling rather than providing didactic information.[12][13]
Mayer, D. (1993). Problems of teaching film and video production in developing countries: Tales from the field.
Jonathan Harris, M., & Mayer, D. (1993). Matching the Media and the Message: Making EffectiveCorporate Films and Videos. Journal of Management Development, 12(4), 13–19.
Pillsbury, B., & Mayer, D. (2005). Women connect! Strengthening communications to meet sexual and reproductive health challenges. Journal of Health Communication, 10(4), 361–371.
Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Chatterjee, J. S., Frank, L. B., Murphy, S. T., Moran, M. B., Werth, L. N., ... & O'Brien, D. (2014). The Transformative Power of Narrative as a Behavioral Change Communication Tool to Reduce Health Disparities in Cervical Cancer among Latinas: Global Implications.
Hernandez, M. Y., Mejia, Y., Mayer, D., & Lopez, S. R. (2016). Using a narrative film to increase knowledge and interpersonal communication about psychosis among Latinos. Journal of health communication, 21(12), 1236–1243.
