A radio and television campaign to educate Trinidadians and Tobagonians about diarrhoea, dehydration and oral rehydration - abstract

ABSTRACT

A radio and television campaign to educate people of Trinidad and Tobago about diarrhoea, dehydration and oral rehydration was conducted in 1985. Two radio and two television advertisements were developed which addressed the prevention and treatment of gastroenteritis. Sanitation, nutrition and oral rehydration therapy (ORT) were emphasised. Breast feeding was an essential component of both advertisements. The advertisements and a questionnaire were pre-tested at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in January, 1985. From March 11 to 22, five hundred mothers, who had just given birth, were questioned by two trained interviewers at the three major hospitals in Trinidad. From April 1 to 22, 1985, the television advertisements were shown once a day during the major news programme; from July 1 to September 8, both radio and television advertising were given daily. The radio advertisements had no fixed time of delivery. Three hundred and sixty of the mothers were located and re-questioned by the same interviewers from November 15 to December 1, 1985. There was no change in the mothers' knowledge of the causes of gastroenteritis, which remained high. The campaign doubled the percentage of mothers who knew the signs of dehydration. The percentage of mothers who would use ORT increased from 55 to 84, but only 25 percent understood why. There was no recriprocal fall in the alternative fluids the mothers thought could be usefully given or in the use of foods or when to restart feeding. There was a small reduction in the number who thought that drugs were useful (AU)