Factors Affecting Audience Perception of Communication Campaign Messages Aimed at Preventing HIV/AIDS Transmission
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
With th e in creased role of media in ra ising public awa ren ess, more and more health communications
campaigns particul arl y focusi ng o n HI V prevention are now being imp lemented throughout the
co untry . In vesting co nside rab le amount of resources, these commu nications campa igns use
broa dcast medi a, print, Intern et and interpersona l co mm uni ca tions to reach th eir in te nded audie nces
w ith different obj ecti ves and messages. Th is st udy aim ed t o id e ntify the fac to rs affecti ng audie nce
pe rcepti on of ca mpa ign messages to prevent HIV transmi ss ion. In add it ion, as th ey also affect
pe rce pti on, th e stu dy will attempt to id entify preferred HI V preve ntion informat ion so u rces of FSW ,
and their level of HI V preventi on methods knowledge ga in ed from th e messages.
Informed by social cog niti ve and protectio n motivati on th eo ri es, th is descriptive audience resea rch
used qu alitati ve and quant ita ti ve methods wi th survey questionnaires and in-depth interv iews as
too ls. Train ed a nd experienced da ta co ll ectors we re use d to co nd uct the interviews and
questi onn a ires. Tes t run s a nd q uality ass ura nce superv isions were co nducted to ensu re success.
The study location is Ko lfe Kera ni o sub city, th e area be hind Alert hos pital a nd a sa mpl e size of 14 5
responden ts were taken. Fo r the interv iews , non-ran dom quota and snowba ll sa mpl in g techn iqu es
we re used to reach a tota l of 30 respondents. For the survey questio nn ai re , a mi x of cl uster and
sim ple rand o m sa m pl ing we re used based on esti mated number of FSWs in each clu st er.
Findings on th e demog raphi c c harac teri stics of the wo me n shows th at majorit y are be low th e age of
25, wit h litt le to no edu ca ti on, speak in g varying prim ary lang uages, havi ng good kn ow ledge of HI V
preventio n methods and an average inco me of over 500 Birr a mont h. Findin gs s how th at th e
preferred HI V inform at ion so urces of t he wome n in clud ed interp erso na l co mmunica ti on s in th e form
of peer educa to rs and women gro ups wi t h coffee ceremon ies, prin t materials such as brochures and
leaflets foll owed by health professiona ls.
Th e leve l of the responde nts' kn ow ledge with rega rd s to HI V preve ntion me th ods is very hi gh. In
addi tion, respondents are practi cin g th e behav iors th at lea rn ed from the messages such as for
examp le the use of co ndo ms with all client s. Th ough th ere is so me deba te among respo nde nts abo ut
the use of co ndo ms w ith th eir tru st ed partners, th e wo rd "tru sted" be in g th e ca use of de bate among
res pond ents.
Cred ibility of th e so urce of messages, co mpre hensibility of ca mpai gn messages, wo rk ing/liv in g
co ntext of th e res pond e nts, th e nature of messages that inc rease ability and sk ill s as we ll as raise
ri sk pe rce ption are th e factors foun d to be stro ng ly affec tin g res pond ents pe rcepti on. Attractive ness
of t he source of the messages, re leva nce of messages, appea l of m essages to audiences, message
clutte r in message recip ie nts ' contex t, in te n sity of materi als (use of different chann els) , moti vat ion of
the message reci pient as we ll as th e experi e nce of in cide nts are the f act ors th at we re found to be
moderate ly affectin g respo ndents' pe rce ption. Fa mili a rity of th e so urce of the message to audie nces ,
in the form of age , sex, re li gious be liefs, ethnic background, has no effect on audience perception of
messages.
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Keywords
Aimed at Preventing, HIV/AIDSTransmission