MASS MEDIA
TRAINER'S NOTES
PURPOSE AND CONTENT
Mass media such as television, radio and newspapers have the potential to research
large numbers of people quickly and at low costs. Mass media have been used in
both developing and developed countries to promote rational drug use. However,
they can shape the way the public perceives medicines through the influence of drug
advertising and the way in which medical advances are reported. This module will
provide an opportunity for participants to reflect critically on the mass media’s
influence – both beneficial and harmful – on use of medicines. Participants will be
introduced to a variety of ways in which the mass media can be mobilised to support
the rational use of drugs.
OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the modules, participants will be able to:
1. Appreciate different kinds of mass media and the way they can be used.
2. Critically assess advantages and disadvantages of using mass media to promote
rational drug use.
3. Understand the process of developing mass media strategies for promoting
rational drug use.
4. Develop strategies for using mass media in their own countries.
PREPARATION
1. Read the Session Notes.
2. Show examples of how the mass media have covered medicines and rational
drug use including copies of advertisements and newspaper articles.
3. Bring examples of educational activities that have been carried out to promote
rational drug use including samples of materials developed.
4. Soul City video recording needed for this session.
Mass media
Trainer's Notes
CORE LIBRARY
Adam G, Harford N (1998) Health On Air - A Guide to Creative Radio for Development. London,
Health Unlimited, pp. 1-103.
Radio Guide (1994) WHO/CDD/94.48. Geneva, World Health Organization.
VISUAL AIDS
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A series of overheads illustrating key points
The video: Excerpt from Soul City
Display of any posters brought by the participants
Overheads
1. Title slide
2. Objectives of the module
3. Reach of mass media: radio
4. Reach of mass media: television
5. Reach of mass media: newspapers
6. Billboards
7. Wall drawing “goiter disables, iodine enables” translation from Punjabi
8. Stamps in health education
9. Two different ways mass media can be used(1)
10. Two different ways mass media can be used (2)
11. 'Narrow' casting
12. Advantages of the mass media
13. Disadvantages of mass media
14. Programme planning for mass media
15. Audience research
16. Developing content of mass media
17. Campaigns
18. Case study: Communication to support Rational Drug Use in Haiphong,
Viet Nam
19. Short-term evaluation
20. Longer-term evaluation
21. Evaluation methods
22. Summary
ORGANISATION AND KEY POINTS OF SESSION
A. An introduction to the mass media (75 minutes)
B. Planning process for using mass media for health promotion (60 minutes)
C. Activity 1 (60 minutes)
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
A. INTRODUCTION TO MASS MEDIA (75 MINUTES)
A1. EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF MASS MEDIA (OH2-7)
When showing each of the four overheads on radio, television, newspapers and
billboards you should generate discussion about their possible use in health
education. You should ask the following questions:
How widely distributed is this medium in your country?
Has it been used for health education on any topic or about drugs in particular?
Can you share with the other participants any experiences you have had using this
medium?
Do you think it will be possible to use this medium in promoting rational drug use?
You should display copies of any material brought by the participants. If they have
brought videotapes or audio cassettes of media they have produced, you can discuss
with the other workshop organisers if time can be found during an evening for
participants to look at/listen to them.
The example of stamps and the reference to slogans on franking machines can be
used to stimulate the participants to think about alternative kinds of mass media.
Unfortunately, none of the countries that have used stamps (e.g. Sri Lanka and
Tanzania) has evaluated their use.
A2. FORMATS IN MASS MEDIA HEALTH PROMOTION (OH 9 & 10)
Mass media for health education are often conceived in a very narrow way as
advertising. It is important to broaden the participants’ understanding by showing
them how health issues can be introduced in a range of media formats including
news, documentary, quiz, and drama as well as advertising and spot
announcements.
When showing each overhead on the types of formats ask the participants whether
or not they have any experience using it.
Are advertising, jingles, spot announcements and public service broadcasts used for
health education in your country?
If so, how are they used?
How effectively do you think they have been used?
What problems have been found in using them?
Has their use ever been evaluated?
It is important to look at ways of influencing the press to cover health topics. This
does not cost anything but it will take time preparing background information. You
will also have to make your activities interesting so that the media will want to cover
them.
For your own country:
Does the news ever cover your activities?
Are there magazine programmes about health on radio and television?
Do newspapers carry articles on health?
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
Are health issues covered in dramas on radio and television?
Have you come across any documentary programmes on health topics?
Explain to the participants that another workshop module will look at ways of
influencing the media so it will not be covered here.
Case Study: Soul City in South Africa
Before showing the video tell the participants:
This video is an episode from the Soul City soap opera developed in South Africa.
While you are watching it, look for and make a list of the different ways in which
health topics have been raised.
How effective do you think soap operas can be for communicating health information?
Do you think you could use soap operas in your own country?
After the video take brief feedback on their comments.
'Narrow Casting' (OH 11)
Explain to the participants that they have just seen a video of a mass media
broadcast. In this way it is possible to 'recycle' mass media and play videos of
television programmes and audio cassettes of radio programmes. It is even possible
to prepare cassettes and videos specifically for playing to small groups. This kind of
approach is called narrow casting because it uses similar production methods as
mass media but the content is designed to meet the needs of a very specific audience.
Have any of you played audio cassettes with health messages at public places? If so,
how effective do you think they were?
A3. MASS MEDIA AND THE PROMOTION OF ILL HEALTH
At this point you should ask the participants to consider how commercial drug
companies use advertising. The influence of advertising will already have been
brought up in the module on factors that shape community drug use.
How do drug companies use advertising in your own countries?
How powerful do you think their promotion is?
How can we overcome their influence?
There is no easy answer to this last question. However, it is important that the
participants realise that the advertising done by drug companies is large-scale and
well-produced. It is not possible to compete with it through mass media health
education alone. It will also be important to use advocacy methods to enforce laws
and regulations related to their activities. This is considered in the module on
advocacy.
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
A4. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MASS MEDIA (OH 12-13)
There is a tendency to overestimate the influence of mass media. For that reason it is
important to develop a critical appreciation for the kind of tasks for which mass
media might be appropriate and issues that may need other approaches. Some
participants may feel that they will never be in a position to use mass media in their
work. It is important to develop a positive approach and open their eyes to the
different ways that mass media can be used.
You should ask the following questions and use the overheads to summarise key
points:
What do you feel are the advantages of mass media?
What do you feel are the disadvantages?
Are there some changes you think mass media are particularly good at promoting?
Are there some changes you think are best done using other methods?
Explain that the next part of the module will look at the planning process for mass
media.
B. PLANNING PROCESS FOR USING MASS MEDIA FOR HEALTH
PROMOTION (60 minutes)
(OH 14-17)
This component should be used to develop a critical understanding of how one can
go about planning mass media programmes. During it, you can refer back to the
workshop’s session on Linking research to intervention which reviewed different
strategies and considered the roles of mass media and person-to-person education.
Show the overhead and explain that the rest of the session will explore these stages
in more detail.
Audience Research (OH 15)
This overhead should remind the participants about the information presented in
other modules on the importance of understanding the community. When planning
mass media programmes, it is particularly important to understand patterns of
listening and watching mass media. For each category of information shown on the
overhead you should ask the question:
Why is it important to know this information?
Developing Content of Mass Media (OH 16)
The factors that you need to take into account when choosing the content of mass
media are similar to most health education methods. You can use this overhead as a
reminder of the points covered in the module on Linking research to intervention. It is
important to remind people that mass media health education has to be done well. If
people do not like it, they will watch or listen to something else.
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
You should remind the participants that, unlike a group face-to-face situation, you
do not have immediate feedback on understanding. So it is very important to pretest
the material before it is broadcast. Ask the participants:
How would you go about pretesting a radio programme?
How would you pretest a television programme?
What questions would you ask the audience?
When you respond to their comments you can refer the participants to the Session
Notes which give a list of suggested questions to ask when pretesting mass media.
Tell them that there will be a separate module on pretesting.
Selecting the Timing of Mass Media Broadcasts (OH 17)
Show the overhead and ask the following questions:
Why is it important to make the correct choice about the time of day?
Can you give examples of messages/target groups that would be more suited to
particular times of day?
Why is it important to make the correct choice of time of year?
Can you give examples of health topics that might be more suited to particular times of
the year?
Why do we need to repeat messages? How do we prevent this from getting boring?
Campaigns (OH 17)
Explain to the participants that, unfortunately, the word campaign is used very
loosely to mean any educational activity. However, in health education planning the
word campaign should be used to describe a very specific approach for an intensive
effort within a short period of time.
The campaign approach has been used for topics such as immunisation, the dumping
of expired medicines, and accident prevention. Debate on the value of campaigns has
been particularly strong for immunisation programmes where some people favour
intensive immunisation campaigns and others would prefer to see immunisation as
an ongoing activity by clinics. You can encourage participants to consider this
question using the following questions:
What do you see as the advantages of campaigns?
What are the disadvantages?
Are there issues concerning public education on medicines for which the campaign
approach would be appropriate? Why do you think so?
The case study from Haiphong, Vietnam (OH 18) described in the Session
Notes is one of the few documented examples of a developing country’s use of mass
media to support education on use of medicines. Show the overhead and ask the
participants:
How appropriate were the objectives for this programme?
Did the evaluation demonstrate the achievement of the objectives?
You should comment on the way the educational objectives were designed to
support clinic activities. Of interest was the use of 'narrow-casting' - broadcasting
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
through the public address systems of the commune (similar public address systems
are common in Thailand).
The case study’s evaluation methodology has some problems. The evaluation
showed that people had heard the broadcasts. The clinic data revealed that the
overall programme objective was achieved - change in use of medicines. However,
this change could be explained as a shift in prescribing practices. It could have been
due to the training programme. An evaluation of the public education programme
would need to provide data that the community members themselves changed their
attitudes and behaviour and that this had made a contribution to the change in
medicine use at the clinics.
Social Marketing Approach
Ask the following questions to get the participants to apply the 4Ps to public
education on medicine:
How can we change the product (appropriate drug use) to make it more acceptable?
How does choice of place affect health education?
How does price affect uptake of medicines?
Evaluation of Mass Media Health Education (OH 19-20)
Unfortunately, most evaluations on the use of mass media for health education
including those related to the case studies described, have their limitations. It is
much easier to evaluate commercial advertising where effectiveness can be measured
in product sales.
Some discussion regarding the problems of obtaining reliable data will have already
taken place in the module on research methodology. At this stage of the course, it is
crucial to get the participants thinking positively about the importance of evaluation
and thinking creatively about possible indicators and strategies.
Show the overheads and ask the following questions.
Why do you need both short-term and long-term evaluation?
What are the main lessons learned from short-term evaluation?
What are the main lessons taken from long-term evaluation?
Why is it important to do a baseline study?
How could you prove that any change was a result of the mass media and not the
result of other educational activities?
Why do you think that evaluation of mass media health education is not done very
well? What could you do to avoid making the same mistakes?
Evaluation of public education on drug use will be examined in more detail in
another module. The main problem with evaluation of mass media health education
is that it is difficult to find a section of the community to use as a control. Another
problem is the heavy reliance on self-reported behaviour change which is subject to
bias.
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
Evaluation methods (OH 21)
Participatory
Qualitative studies, using e.g. FGD, in-depth interviews, observation
Surveys of public, practitioners/pharmacists
Responses from readers/listeners
Monitoring drug sales/prescriptions.
Summary (OH 22)
Use this slide to sum up the session.
ACTIVITY 1 (60 MINUTES)
Mass Media Planning Exercise
(1 hour: 40 minutes/exercise and 20 minutes/feedback)
This exercise enables participants to apply concepts from the previous session to the
design of a public education programme aimed at promoting rational drug use.
Divide the participants into groups of four and ask them to look at their Session
Notes, which provide copies of the two forms they have to fill out.
Ask them to select a problem related to use of medicines that has come up in course
discussions. Leave and after five minutes return and check that they have chosen a
topic. If they are having difficulties, suggest a topic yourself.
Tell them to spend about 15 minutes working through the decisions on the first form
and another 15 minutes on the time chart. Give them transparencies of the two forms
and overhead projector pens so they can fill in their responses.
You should encourage participants to suggest ways in which they can realistically
use mass media. Return every five minutes to check on progress and to make sure
that they are not stuck. While some are completing the forms, you can suggest that
others be creative and prepare examples of possible content. For example, they might
sing a jingle, give a public service announcement, provide a short outline of a story
they would use in a soap opera or design a supporting poster.
During the feedback session, you should ask each group to show quickly their
overheads and share any examples of suggested content.
In the concluding session, you should again ask:
As a result of this session, how many of you think you could use mass media in your
public education efforts?
Hopefully the number of persons responding positively will have increased!
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Mass media
Trainer's Notes
CONCLUSION
At the end of the session it is important to close on a positive note to encourage
participants to leave with the feeling that mass media are a valuable component of
any public education programme on drug use. They should feel it is something they
can get involved in. You should alert them to the course session on Working with the
journalists press which will provide further skills on working with the media.
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