A comparative survey of accessibility and effectiveness of radio and television in raising public awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 prevention guidelines In Kawempe Division

Abstract

The low public adherence to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preventing COVID-19, which was observed in different parts of Uganda, led to questioning the accessibility and effectiveness of the radios and televisions that had been used to promote it by raising public awareness of these SOPs. This study answered this question by comparing the accessibility and effectiveness of these two media channels, and the factors that influenced the effectiveness in Kawempe Division. It was conducted as a comparative survey guided by the agenda setting theory supplemented by the uses and gratification theory and the health belief model. Questionnaire data was collected from 230 radio listeners and TV viewers selected at household level using systematic sampling. Data was analysed using descriptive and Chi Square methods. The key findings indicate that radio was more accessible compared to TV in terms of preference, intentional attention and time spent on programs and talks broadcast to raise public awareness of the SOPs. TV was only more accessible in terms of intentional attention paid to SOP adverts. Radio was also more effective in raising public awareness and acceptance of the SOPs compared to TV, except in terms of only adverts. Factors that enhanced radio’s effectiveness more than that of TV included higher accessibility, affordability, interactive programs presented by persuasive hosts and featuring respectable figures, and using understandable languages. The visual power of TV was the only factor that favoured it over radio. Poverty limited this effectiveness of radio and TV by disabling the target audience to meet the cost of using each of them, with TV more inhibited by language barrier. Accordingly, the study concludes by underscoring the need to improve the effectiveness of radio and TV by increasing their accessibility through addressing the factors hampering it, while putting more emphasis put on TV. Therefore, it recommends to the government, Ministry of Health, and radio and TV operators to increase accessibility of the two media outlets by alleviating poverty, subsidising access costs, and ensuring that the SOPs are communicated in local languages. Further research is also recommended into how radio operators can design attention-catching advertisements and how TV operators can design attention-gripping on-air interactive programs that can promote public acceptance of the SOPs for preventing health risks such as COVID-19.