In association with Simon Fraser University & Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Simon Fraser University
Great Northern Way Campus
555 Great Northern Way
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1E2
tel: 1.604.268.7306
fax: 1.604.268.7309
email: act4hlth@sfu.ca
website: www.sfu.ca/act4hlth
Assessing the effectiveness of different methods of communication on Farsi-speaking
immigrants’ perception toward and intention to use a government-sponsored health
information program in the Greater Vancouver Area (Theme I)
Investigators: Ellen Balka, Irving Rootman, Iraj Poureslami
Background
Despite considerable investments in BC HealthGuide program by the government of BC, little is
known about who uses them, when and for what purposes the services are likely used, and the
perceptions of users towards the services. Although this program is developed to serve the public
as a whole in BC, people with different cultural and ethnicity backgrounds may use and benefit
from the services in different ways. Understanding more about different communities: whether
they use the BC HealthGuide services and, if used, the level of satisfaction is important for health
promotion specialists who want to choose the best medium for disseminating information and
apply communication interventions. To answer these questions and evaluate the overall
effectiveness of the BC HealthGuide services, the Michael Smith Foundation funded an
Evaluation Program in 2003 with an attempt to determine how different cultural communities use
these services and the perspectives on benefits and barriers of the provided services. In a study
as a part of this program, a series of documentary and drama videos have been produced and
aired in summer and fall 2004.
Project Description
The evaluation study aims to assess the effects of broadcasting the aforementioned videos on
the awareness about and the patterns of the BC HealthGuide Services usage among the Farsispeaking community in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA). The major goals of the study are
twofold: (1) to compare two methods of communications (direct vs. indirect messages) on the
attitudes and perceptions of the viewers regarding the credibility of messengers and the
relevancy of the information provided in the videos; and (2) to compare and contrast the
effectiveness of providing audio-visual health information (i.e., the produced videos) via local TVs
with the same materials when are presented in the group sessions by using VCR (i.e. VHS video
tapes) on participants attitudes and perceptions towards the BC HealthGuide services.
Methods
A quasi-experimental design is used to conduct telephone surveys of a selected sample and the
intervention (showing videos in the group sessions) in an aim to test the hypotheses of the study.
Research Partner Benefits
This study provides initial information for the BC Ministry of Health that could be used as a
foundation for larger programs and research activities by other researchers, particularly in the
fields of communication and health education/promotion. It also aids the Ministry with the creation
of a protocol for delivering health-related information in other languages than English or French
for ethno-cultural communities in the GVA.